The autocratic leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran are hot to blame the United States, among others, for the popular rebellion that is growing there day by day.

It is an honor we do not yet deserve.

Should that government fall, or even be significantly reformed, it will not be our doing. It will be the victory of the millions of Iranians who are sick and tired of their own government’s repressive behavior and its dismissal of legitimate concerns that its most recent electoral victory was a fraud.

But the time has come for the United States to stand, at least verbally, with the brave Iranians who dare to stand up and, as James Madison used to say, “petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

We do not have, nor should we desire, the power to tell Iran what kind of government it will have. Our leaders can get word to the courageous people of Iran that we sympathize with their cause. Similar statements gave needed solace to the people who finally threw off their communist masters in Poland and other Eastern European nations.