The fact is that, as we have noted earlier, there is a large portion of Iranians within the country calling for a separation of state and religious authorities. To ignore these Iranians, or to implausibly brush them aside as products of false consciousness and brainwashing by Western media would be, ironically, to silence them in ways that ‘anti-imperialists’ typically find to be criterial of colonial subjection.
Perhaps the anti-imperialist’s point is rather that since secularism emerged from, and developed within, a European context (ie, its specific socioeconomic, cultural and religious system), it is best suited to that context, and unsuitable or even harmful when implemented elsewhere. However, there are at least two fatal problems with this relativistic formulation of the argument. The first is that it is unacceptably ahistorical. There are many examples of secularism outside of ‘Western’ societies prior to colonisation – eg, in the philosophical milieu and political structures of India and in numerous Chinese dynasties – and secularism also has its own history within Islamic contexts. Thus, claiming that secularism is exclusively suited to Europe or ‘the West’ is false, and cannot rescue the argument. The second reason this relativism fails is that it is itself patronising, essentialist and even racist to propose that Iranians are inherently incapable of deliberating about their values, beliefs and practices outside of a religious framework.
https://aeon.co/essays/secularism-in-iran-is-not-just-a-form-of-western-imperialism
Know Thyself 