Iran was a westernized country, until 1979, the year of the Islamic revolution, that rid Iran of the brutal Shah, Palavi. Those, that are old enough, remember the Iranian hostage crisis where members of the US embassy were held hostage in Tehran until the day Ronald Reagan became president.
Iran has lived under a brutal theocracy, since then. There have been a number of protests that have threatened the theocracy, with the latest large scale protests following the death of Masha Amini, back in 2022. Those protests like the ones before were severely beaten down by the Iranian government
Will these protests be different? Protests are happening in all 31 Iranian provinces. The protests, this time around, are over the skyrocketing prices of everything, in Iran. Sanctions have hurt Iran, in particular, the middle class, big time. Iran also went through a brutal 12 day war with Israel, last year, where Iran was severely weakened. Iran’s proxies such as Hamas and Hezbollah have also been severely weakened.
Donald Trump also might be in the picture. He has threatened to go after Iran, if Iran keeps killing off its protesters. I guess it might be OK to do it in Minneapolis, but not in Iran. It is unknown what action Trump would take if he actually goes through with this threat.
Many Iranians remember the time before 1979. Many Iranians want that back without the repression they suffered under the Shah.
Things feel different, this time around. Things may actually come to a head by the end of this week if Trump gets involved.
That’s all I have for today.