Last night Iran confirmed that its president and foreign minister died in a helicopter crash. The condolences from sympathetic regimes were swift. The PRC declared that the Chinese people had lost a good friend. The Kremlin mourned a reliable partner and Prime Minister Orban of Hungary, whose government has pursued deeper trade relations with Tehran in spite of Western sanctions, offered his thoughts and prayers. Well, I too would like to extend my condolences to the people of Iran for their long suffering under the brutal theocratic rule of the Islamic Republic. I suspect a great many Iranians would rather Western admirers stop lionizing a man known as the butcher of Tehran for executing political prisoners. They might prefer that foreign leaders not further legitimize the regime that actively represses all of them.