Previous protests weren’t as big there?
No, not at all. This is a huge blow to the regime as security forces are everywhere in Mashhad. Khamenei often gives speeches there outlining his plans for the next year. It’s the last place they would have expected such large protests.
The slogans are really important. In the last protests, the main slogan was “Woman, Life, Freedom,” coming from kurdish women’s groups. Now, we’re hearing slogans like “death to the dictator,” directly targeting the regime. We’re also seeing strikes on a much larger scale. Strikes played a key role in toppling the Pahlavi regime in 1979. Previously, strikes were mainly in Kurdish areas, with activists urging the rest of the country, including Tehran, to join, but they didn’t.
This time, unrest started in Ala’addin Bazaar—a well-known shopping center in Tehran that mainly sells mobile phones and digital equipment—and quickly spread to Tehran’s Grand Bazaar.The merchants in Ala’addin Bazaar are generally conservative and haven’t protested before. This is a place for electronics, imports, and trade. It started in the heart of the capital, than spread across Iran, and seven major Kurdish parties announced they were joining the strike.
you mentioned the Twelve-Day War with Israel. It was significant how Iran was humiliated by Israel and then the United States, and the military power Israel displayed. Wouldn’t that outrage people and turn them against the regime?
We need to be careful when discussing this. There was a lot of misinterpretation about how Iranians responded to the war. Iranians were against the Israeli actions, and many were enraged. But it’s important to remember that condemning israel isn’t necessarily defending the regime. They’re a population stuck between a criminal group that controls the country and, conversely, Israel and the united States, who are pursuing their own interests.
Humiliation is a factor. Many military commanders were killed. People realized this regime can’t even protect its own officials and military bases. If they can’t protect them, how can they protect the nation? The country’s leader was in hiding for twelve days, and people were left to fend for themselves, blocked inside cities without shelter.
The war led to a complete lack of trust in the government’s ability to protect the nation, especially considering the regime has been attacking Israel and America and isolating the country in the name of national integrity. I’ve repeatedly heard that people believe the nuclear program has caused more economic damage and isolation than any benefit. The program’s costs have worsened the economic situation, and people want to negotiate a deal with the U.S.to lift sanctions. There have been discussions within the government, but Khamenei doesn’t seem willing to compromise.
What about Iran’s regional standing, which has weakened after the Syrian regime fell and Hezbollah was weakened by Israel? is there a sense among the population that Iran’s regional position is weaker? Have you seen that reflected in how people talk about politics and protest?
I think it’s part of the humiliation we’ve been discussing, and a major aspect was Khamenei’s empty gestures and speeches.He constantly talked about the “axis of resistance” and defending Haram, referring to the soldiers he sent to Syria to support the Assad regime. All of that is gone, and it happened quickly. I don’t think Khamenei expected this level of loss on a regional level. But it’s important to consider the Iranian people’s grievances.
I often hear from ordinary citizens, “We’re starving, so why is our money being sent to Hezbollah or Hamas?” This financial support is openly announced. They’re openly talking about financing the “axis of resistance” and even creating it. There’s widespread dissatisfaction, with people seeing it as a betrayal that puts them in a precarious situation, exposing them to war, invasion, sanctions, and starvation.
We also need to remember that Iran has been the main regional ally of Palestine. Since the revolution, pro-Palestine rhetoric has been a core part of the Islamic Republic’s identity, with talk of conquering Jerusalem and freeing Palestine. Ayatollah Khomeini said the path to jerusalem goes through Karbala, which was the slogan for the Iran-Iraq War—an expansionist idea of freeing Palestine and jerusalem. What happened in Gaza over the past two years, as horrific as it was—and it was a genocide—weakened the position of the Islamic Republic, although some don’t want to admit that, fearing it will worsen the situation in Palestine. But what happened in Gaza proved the Islamic Republic can only create more chaos in the region.
