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This is an interesting development.

Why are all the replies missing?

This is a new thread. I just thought the topic was interesting enough to have a thread for it on the new forum so I made one here.

If we want a bit of a kickoff for a political discussion:

A lot of people aren’t covering these protests, and a lot of people don’t pay enough attention to Iranian politics to understand what’s at the heart of the protests. A lot of sources want to go back to the 2009 protests to describe what’s going on, but those events really only share the same symptoms of problems inasmuch as there’s an anti-corruption element of the current protests.

This goes back to 2015, when Rouhani and Obama finally finished settling the JCPOA, which lifted sanctions in exchange for Iran rolling back their nuclear program. At the time, I predicted that the Iran nuclear deal, as it’s more commonly known, would lead in some way to a strong push for regime change in Iran. My prediction was kind of off, though, as it focused more on the possibility of America being seen as heroes as the citizens of Iran and that Khamenei, who severely wanted to be anti-Western and attempting to kill the deal, would see a major dip in popularity.
The deal was EXTREMELY popular among the Iranian people, to the point of creating the most shocking political election upset of 2016.

President Rouhani set up a pro-nuclear deal coalition for the 2016 parliamentary elections. Everyone predicted this coalition would lose to the Supreme Leader’s coalition, which promised to kill the deal. Rouhani’s coalition winning a majority was a huge boost for Western prospects. It also ensured Rouhani would win reelection for president in 2017.

This is where the problems start and end:
While Rouhani was playing politics, he made grand promises for all the good the deal would do for Iranian citizens. It’s been in place for well over 2 years now, and Iran has seen a rise in unemployment and a decent amount of inflation. Prices have gone up, and if you see rising prices after a trade agreement something is going SEVERELY wrong.

All the while, Khamenei has been running an authoritarian democracy domestically and using the military to promote terrorism abroad while his suffering population is largely young and pro-Western.

This was basically a powder keg, and something tipped the people over the edge. In the old thread there was mention of Western influence, which Khamenei and Rouhani are very keen to blame to keep focus off their own failings causing this. It’s not impossible. I saw in an article that Radio Farda (Iranian branch of Radio Free Europe) and Voice of America Iran played a major role in stirring the pot, but I can’t find that article anymore.

Hail Persia!

I hope this is "real" in the sense of being founded on Iranian citizens' discontent with their government and not another Western trick. The Iranian regime is one of the worst governments on Earth and I would be happy to see them go, but only if the Iranian people want this and this isn't just American/Israeli intelligence agencies stirring the pot. I can absolutely believe that most Iranians are sympathetic to the West and simply want to be done with the terrorists in charge, but that needs to be the reason why.

Hah, slight correction. I said Khamenei is running authoritarian democracy and meant to say authoritarian theocracy. Proofreading is a godsend.

TrPrado wrote: ↑

Sun Dec 31, 2017 6:15 am

Hah, slight correction. I said Khamenei is running authoritarian democracy and meant to say authoritarian theocracy. Proofreading is a godsend.

we got an edit function now

President Eden wrote: ↑

Sun Dec 31, 2017 6:32 am

TrPrado wrote: ↑

Sun Dec 31, 2017 6:15 am

Hah, slight correction. I said Khamenei is running authoritarian democracy and meant to say authoritarian theocracy. Proofreading is a godsend.

we got an edit function now

It only works for 5 minutes after posting, and it took me a little longer than that to notice my mistake.

EDIT: Just like this

oh rip it sure does.

UPDATE:

It looks like a couple protesters have now been killed.

TrPrado wrote: ↑

Sun Dec 31, 2017 7:02 am

UPDATE:

It looks like a couple protesters have now been killed.

Welp, peace was fun while it lasted.

some people saying it's 3. why can't we have peaceful non-lethal protests? is this ReALlY ToO HaRd?

False flag.

Well at least we know that President Trump will support the anti-Government protesters. He won't be like Obama and support the government.

Lmao, the Obama administration definitely supported the destabilizing, anti-government protesters.

Yeah I’m with leon. I’m 85% sure this was the end goal of the nuclear deal, and Trump being made privy to that is the only reason he refused to reinstall the old sanctions when he decertified the deal. Playing it real smart by getting the ideal political result in both Iran and the US.

I'm pretty sure he did not support the anti-gov forces, but maybe I am wrong.

He condemned the suppression of the Green Movement in 2009, but aside from that there’s never been an opportunity. That was the only real organization against the Iranian government as a whole before now. From what I read Khamenei’s supporters organized the first protests toting high prices as the JCPOA failing and Rouhani being a failure. It spun out of their control from there though.

How exactly is Trump "supporting" protesters in Iran?

Talk is cheap, and that's pretty much all Trump ever is.

And sometimes he talks.

Jeff Kuta wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 02, 2018 5:25 pm

How exactly is Trump "supporting" protesters in Iran?

Talk is cheap, and that's pretty much all Trump ever is.

And sometimes he talks.

When he decertified the Iran deal, he refused to reinstate the old sanctions. This made it to where when the protests inevitably took place the regime couldn't use the US as a scapegoat for all the JCPOA related issues regarding the protests. I mean, it's not much but it's something he and Obama share in terms of helping legitimize the protests.