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Editor's note: Michael Rubin is a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and author of "Dancing with the Devil." The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.

(CNN) -- Grand jury dismissal of charges against police officers in the July 17, 2014, chokehold death of Eric Garner in New York has returned racism to the forefront of the American political debate.

The entrance of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei into the fray, with tweets condemning American police and racism and using the hashtag #blacklivesmatter, has turned the debate into a farce. It's the equivalent of David Duke condemning anti-Semitism or North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un condemning prison overcrowding.

But perhaps Khamenei's tweets can be a teachable moment, for Iranians and Americans both, about racism and injustice in Iran.

Michael Rubin

In America, journalists discuss racism, politicians debate it and academics study it, because Americans enjoy free speech, a free press and can speak truth to power without fear or risk of torture. Not so with Iranians.

In the months preceding the Shah's 1979 ouster, Iranians joined the revolution because they were tired of dictatorship, wanted democracy, and chafed under the SAVAK, the Shah's dictatorship. Revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini rallied Iranians to his cause. Before his return to Iran, Khomeini spoke the language of social justice and disavowed any interest in personal power.

After the success of his revolution, Khomeini changed course. He may have executed many top-ranking SAVAK officers, but he soon took back their deputies to build the VeVAK (or Ministry of Information and Security), a new intelligence service different only in name.

Iranians might be disillusioned with the regime's revolutionary fervor, but Khamenei, his top deputies and the Revolutionary Guards are not. Whether it's Evin or Kahrizak, Iranian prisons can make their American counterparts look like Club Med.

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Iran's tweet on race, cops is a farce