Tag: Ayatollah

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Iranian Protests are Growing, Citizens Attempt to Take Over Revolutionary Guard Bases

There have been plenty of times when outside observers believed that a real revolution was underway in Iran.  The Green Movement of 2009 was the last such uprising only to fizzle out after a lack of support by Obama.  With Trump openly supporting the protestors over the last few days, these protests feel different. Western media has reported that the widespread protests over economic disparity have essentially morphed into an entire palette of anger thrusted against the theocratic regime in Tehran.

The regime has responded with full force and an attempt to block the internet.

Raman Ghavni has been reporting on the ground using his Twitter.  The latest tweet shows protestors doing the unthinkable and attempting to storm Revolutionary Guard bases.

As far as the size of the protests, the following infograph shows a growing movement:

Ironically the regime, which used sanctions as a way of deferring responsibility for their citizens’ economic plight has no such shield now that there are no real sanctions. Whether or not the current protests sweeping the country will overturn one of the world’s most despotic regimes is not clear.

What is obvious is that these protests are not isolated incidents nor are they small in nature.  While the Ayatollahs insist that they are foreign an funded and driven by Western agents, they have grown too large for anyone to believe that explanation.

In the next few days and weeks it will be critical for a leader or group of leaders to emerge in order for the protests to turn into a far wider revolution.

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Trump and the Ayatollah: Who Will Flinch First?

There is less than 60 days until Donald Trump becomes the 45th President of the United States of America and the Ayatollah has already threatened the United States with retaliation due to the House of Representatives renewing the Iran Sanctions Act for 10 years.  Given the fact that this act was not actually part of the final agreement between the Obama Administration and Iran, it is hard to understand why the Ayatollah is so bent out of shape.

To understand why Iran is already making threatening gestures one must look into how far-reaching the shift will be in America’s foreign policy after Jan. 20th.  Let’s assume for a second that the worst happens and Mitt Romney is selected as Secretary of State.  Even Romney is fully opposed to the Iran deal and believes America should take down the Ayatollahs.  It’s true that Romney is equally antagonistic towards Russia, but isolating the Iran policy by itself and considering this is the best they can hope for, the Persian predicament is still pretty bad.  Now let’s assume Trump goes with a Bolton or Rudy Gulliani, then Iran will be looking down the barrel of a gun.

Given Donald Trump’s view of the world, where Russia becomes a force to be dealt with directly then the bad actor is none other than Iran, exactly the way it is now. For the Donald everyone else is rightfully just trying to do the best for their country (save for Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and a few others) and so in a simple, but realistic way those countries that cannot abide by any deal are bad actors meant to be isolated.

Iran is ratcheting up the pressure now in order to make it clear to the new President that it must be taken seriously and all agreements be adhered to. With General Flynn acting as Donald Trump’s National Security Adviser, Nikki Haley now the Ambassador to be at the UN, and a Secretary of State that would love to see a hard-line drawn on the Mullah’s, Iran has little chance to convince Donald Trump to back down.

The only question is, what will Iran do when there is no deal to hold them to?

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