Factually, this probably holds true, although a wrong interpretation may have been made from the data:
The protesters are certainly being dealt with harshly there. If the price of oil falls further and tanker shipments to India are disrupted, the protests are unlikely to end. The economy is on the brink of collapse, and there could potentially be a new round of water shortages next summer, so some kind of significant political reform is becoming inevitable for the Iranian regime to prevent a revolution.
BREAKING : Anti Islamic regime protesters now fully control the city center of Mashhad, the 2nd largest city in Iran. Multiple private jets were seen flying from Tehran, this evening. A local journalist confirmed that at least 4 leaders including 1 top military general left Iran.
Saw this on X 10h ago. You should follow the news feed via X. YLE and HS are a joke.
Let’s hope that the people in Iran get their way and there is a change of power! It’s just a shame that the protesters are using stones while the police/army have weapons.. Thousands have already died in Iran.. The order has been given to shoot everyone.
Bloody weekend in Iran.
Even a cautious estimate of the death toll from the unrest is currently likely around a hundred. Larger unconfirmed estimates, on the other hand, are already 2000+. However, even in the midst of the internet censorship blackout, reports are coming from SEVERAL Iranian hospitals about large numbers of dead and injured, so there is likely some truth to it.
Let’s see how the Americans and the rest of the world react to the events. Trump, after all, has given quite clear ultimatums. Iran is having to prepare for a two-front war, against both the USA and its own people.
Even Hesari (Helsingin Sanomat) has (slightly) woken up to the topic with an interview with a Middle East professor, which is actually quite good.
I am waiting with interest to see who will be groomed as Iran’s new ruler and who will end up managing Iran’s oil industry. The exiled Reza Pahlavi is likely the US candidate for the position. During their previous time in power, the Pahlavi dynasty was a preferred ally for the West because they accepted Western oil companies as owners of Iranian oil fields and the primary beneficiaries of the oil industry. Pahlavi currently lives in the United States and apparently enjoys some degree of popular support in Iran. He represents the last branch of the Persian royal house, which held power for nearly 3,000 years, so there is a certain sense of grandeur involved. Historically, the Pahlavis also promoted a very secular government in Iran, banning hijabs and Sharia law. In itself, the situation sounds good for Pahlavi, but then there is a big “but”: the Pahlavis were last brought to power with the help of the US and the UK in 1953 specifically because the preceding democratic government insisted on nationalizing Iran’s oil reserves. The same theme followed in 1979 when a popular front overthrew the Pahlavis; the primary reason for the revolution was the people’s desire for a larger share of the country’s oil revenues. Oil was then nationalized very quickly after the revolution.
Maryam Rajavi is another potential successor to the Islamist regime. She is a long-standing opposition politician and resistance fighter. In the 1979 revolution, she represented democratic forces that were defeated after the fall of the monarchy and forced into exile once the Islamists gained power. She has led the MEK resistance movement since 1985 and the coalition of resistance movements called the NCRI since 1993. Rajavi is also an apparently popular figure in Iran and has done commendable work toward overthrowing the theocracy since its inception. Then there is her big “but”: especially MEK is, by the standards of this forum, a communist movement. Both MEK and the NCRI have occasionally been on the United States’ list of terrorist organizations; they have maintained a bloody resistance in Iran through bombings and even participated in the Iran-Iraq war on Iraq’s side. It would be hard for me to see the current Trump administration supporting a leftist terrorist in any situation.
