Iran’s Protesters Need Some More Homegrown Support
International attention is important, but their chances of success depend on support closer at hand.
They need more homegrown fuel for the fire.
Photographer: Anadolu Agency/Anadolu via Getty Images
As the protests in Iran head toward their third week, the regime’s crackdown is intensifying. Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian has been telling his Western counterparts that “there is not a big deal going on in Iran.” But Iran’s communications blackouts have not blinded the US, Canada and Europe’s leading powers to the regime’s escalating brutality, which they have roundly condemned, and in some cases sanctioned. The question now is whether the protesters can persuade other groups within Iran to join their ranks.
Since not even the Islamic Republic can persuade Iranians to reject the evidence of their eyes and ears, the regime is replaying its propaganda greatest hits: The protests are merely “riots,” instigated by the US to “to weaken Iran's stability and security.”