The population is angry because of the severe lack of economic and political freedoms they have under the Regime, extremely high costs of living, widespread corruption orchestrated by the mullahs, and ever-increasing unemployment.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) controls roughly 40% of the economy and could easily fix these problems if they wanted to but they don’t.
Chris Doyle, director of the London-based Council for Arab-British Understanding (CAABU), wrote an op-ed on the growing protests for Arab News.
He wrote: “The regime’s response has not varied from its time-honoured approach, or that of its ally, the regime in Syria. It has escalated its repression with mass arrests, cutting off the internet, and use of live ammunition. Countering opposition rallies with pro-government rallies holds little water, just as it is shorn of any credibility in places like Syria.”
Not only are the Regime not even attempting to address the problems of the Iranian people, they are also content to blame everyone but themselves for the problems: the Iranian people, the West, the other countries in the Middle East.
What makes it worse is the amount of money that Iran received from the nuclear deal- supposedly to fix their economy. This money has instead financed terrorist proxies, undermined leaders, and destabilised other nation states; including plunging billions of dollars into the Syrian regime to help Bashar Assad remain in power.
How can the region and the world react?
Doyle wrote: “The options are limited. Providing clandestine help for the protesters risks confirming the Iranian regime’s dark narrative. Escalation could only lead to more bloodshed, as in Syria.
egional interventions and support for proxies have little track record of constructive success.
Internationally handling Iran has proved nearly impossible.”
He cites the 2015 nuclear deal as an example of the international community failing to temper the Iranian Regime.
Support for the protesters, however, need not come in the form of weapons or money. It could be something as simple as working with the Iranian Resistance politically- that would really rile the Regime.
Doyle wrote: “The Iranian regime knows at its core that it is from the Iranian people it has the most to fear. It is a pity that it seems to be against its DNA to work for them, not against them.”
