The Iranian regime is shouting “Death to America,” the ayatollahs’ mantra since seizing power in 1979. Yet in the telling of some apologists, the war cry is harmless rhetoric — a reverse dog-whistle where vitriol is code for affection.

Iran’s parliament performed choruses of “Death to America” on Wednesday. The country may call itself “the Islamic Republic,” but it’s no democracy. The supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, hand-picks who runs for office and can veto any law.

Because the legislature is the voice of the dictatorship, not the people, many voters boycotted the sham elections last year. Record-low turnout was a statement that the theocracy lacked the consent of the governed, raising hopes that it would lose legitimacy with the world.

Instead, those cries for liberty were all-but ignored, just as many turn deaf when they hear the “Death to America” chants. People who cite the slogan as a reason to end Iran’s nuclear program are often scolded for missing some imagined nuance.

The spin began on social media and by Wednesday made the jump to press outlets. On Thursday on MSNBC, President Obama’s former undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs, Richard Stengel, dismissed concerns that Iran is serious about destroying America.

Mr. Stengel recalled two men from a crowd chanting “Death to America” greeting him after venting their rage. “We want to welcome you to our country,” he quoted them as saying. “We love American culture. We love American movies.”

Mr. Stengel used this to argue that Iran “is the most Western nation in the whole Middle East” and that America has “more in common with” it than many local allies. We can hope that’s true for the people, but it’s the ayatollahs whose fingers would be on a nuclear button.

In 2014, just before Iran signed the nuclear agreement with President Obama, “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” chants filled the streets. Eager to downplay them then as many are now, the New York Times called the display “ritual” and “not especially energetic.”

That the death threat lacked moxie is slim comfort to the hundreds of Americans killed by Iran and its proxies. It’s actions that matter, not professions that words are taken the wrong way. In 1979, the Iranian students who stormed America’s embassy also proclaimed peaceful intentions. They announced that they only wanted to have a “sit-in” protest before grabbing 52 Americans and holding them hostage for 444 days.

After the April 1983 bombing of America’s embassy at Beirut, the caller who claimed credit called it “part of the Iranian Revolution’s campaign against imperialist targets.” The ayatollahs denied responsibility but in 2003 an American court ruled they had planned and funded the assault.

“Americans need to understand,” a columnist at Australia’s Herald Sun, Rita Panahi, posted Tuesday on X, “the Iranian regime’s ultimate ambition is the annihilation of the ‘Great Satan,’ America.” She recalled being made to chant the aggressive mantra “in school in Tehran … every morning.”

Ms. Panahi said that President Trump’s “efforts in ending the regime’s nuclear ambition is America First.” Her testimony could prove persuasive to those on the left and in the MAGA base who see confronting Iran as unnecessary.

The ayatollah’s appearance on state-controlled Iranian TV in November 2023 left no doubt about his intentions. “When you chant ‘Death to America,’” he said, according to a translation by the Middle East Media Research Institute, “it is not just a slogan. It is a policy.”

Some in Iran may shout “Death to America” without much thought, but the indoctrination desensitizes them to the idea. Imagine Americans hearing such threats at a political rally. They’d rush to protect the targeted group and those making excuses would be ridiculed.

Ayatollah Khamenei could clear up the supposed ambiguity in “Death to America” by renouncing it as both slogan and policy. Since he won’t, the only sensible response is to heed the shrill whistle coming from Tehran and ensure that the regime never gets weapons capable of making good on its threat.