DURHAM, N.C. (RNS) — Mohsen Kadivar follows the war in Iran with a growing sense of déjà vu.
A research professor of Islamic studies at Duke University, he has been living in exile from his native Iran for 18 years. A staunch critic of the regime in Tehran and an advocate for democratic reforms, Kadivar now believes the United States is undergoing a similar descent into authoritarian rule.
Kadivar supported the 1979 revolution that ushered in the Islamic Republic, hoping it would bring about a more just society. Things didn’t turn out that way. When he wrote articles and books critical of the regime, the authorities sentenced him to 18 months in the infamous Evin Prison in Tehran.
He came to the U.S. in 2008, first to the University of Virginia and then to Duke. But now he sees a familiar pattern happening in the U.S.
“Journalists ask me, what do you think about the defeat of Islamic Republic?” he said. “And I tell them, what do you think about the defeat of liberal democracy in the U.S.?”
Mohsen Kadivar, a research professor of Islamic studies at Duke University. (Photo courtesy of Mohsen Kadivar)
He said he’s appalled by the war with Iran — the lack of any immediate threat to the U.S. , the rush to war without congressional authorization. He believes the war will only strengthen religious fundamentalism around the world and that it has already weakened democratic forces within Iran.
RNS interviewed Kadivar from his home in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, this week. The interview was edited for length and clarity.
How is your family in Iran?
My mother and also two of my kids are living in Tehran. There is no international internet in Iran. There is a national internet, like in China. So they can contact each other on the internet, but not us. They can purchase some international telephone cards. We can talk for a few minutes every day, and we understand that they’re safe.
What’s your sense of this war?
This …