“Dear university students in the United States of America, you are standing on the right side of history. You have now formed a branch of the Resistance Front and have begun an honorable struggle in the face of your government’s ruthless pressure — which openly supports Zionists.”

This was the tweet from Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei earlier this week, which had been viewed 11 million times at the time of writing.

What Khamenei tweeted — and he has recently evolved into a regular, almost obsessive tweeter — marks a disturbing trend: the increasing alignment of progressive groups in the United States with regimes and movements that starkly contrast with the values they claim to uphold and be fighting for.

Being hailed by Iran is not something a progressive activist in the West — concerned with freedom of speech, LGBTQ rights, women’s rights, the right to protest, and the dangers of autocracy — should want on their resume.