Transcription
Large crowds of protesters have marched through the Iranian capital, Tehran, in what's been described as the largest demonstrations against the ruling regime for more than 15 years. What began as anger over a deepening economic crisis in the country has now also turned into calls for the overthrow of Iran's supreme leader.
Well, US President Donald Trump has again reiterated that the US would strike very hard, as he put it, if Iran begins killing protesters. Human rights organizations say more than 30 people have reportedly been killed.
Arman Ma'amoudian is a research fellow at the Global and National Security Institute. He joined me earlier and I asked him just how significant these protests are.
"I must say that this protest is the strongest challenge that the Islamic Republic has faced. I mean, the Islamic Republic has gone through episodes of, you know, chaos and instability since its beginning, such as the war, the elite splits, political assassinations, economic issues, the June attack by the Israelis. But this one, I think, is the most serious threat that targets or aims at the very existence of the Islamic Republic. And there are various reasons behind that. I think the primary reason that this protest is quite significant is that the Islamic Republic has shown, unlike previous protests, a struggle to wrap up the protesters or, you know, mobilize its forces to confront protests. They are using violence, but unlike previous times, we are not seeing any evidence that suggests that the use of violent force or even shutting down the internet earlier today has kind of forced the protesters to sit back or go back home. As a matter of fact, all these methods or applications that have been used have only made the situation worse. We have since then seen the value of the protesters has grown, and it seems for now, at least, they have no desire to sit back or go back home. It doesn't mean that the end of the Islamic Republic is guaranteed or near, but I can say that, historically speaking, this is as close as they could get to collapse."
"What does it say, in your mind, that Iranians, from, you know, these protests taking place, are not afraid of pushback by the military, by the security forces, and are going as far as to call for the Supreme Leader to be removed? What does that tell us about the state of the country?"
"To be frank, it's a great question. Uh, it's a million-dollar question. My answer to it, my analysis would be that, look, there is just so much frustration that the population of the country can take. The Iranian people are under every single pressure that you can assume, short of a civil war. Just a couple of months ago, they experienced a war. The country didn't achieve a good result in it. They have been dealing with international sanctions for decades. Iranian people have no connection to international banks. There is no Visa card, Mastercard, no credit card. They are under political suppression. Basically, despite who they elect or who they send to the post or the presidential office, the policy of our country has not changed. The foreign policy, the domestic policy has not changed. Iranian women have been under a significant level of discrimination. They've been victims of discrimination. We have witnessed it a couple of years ago through the Mahsa Amini movement, the Woman, Life, Liberty movement. And above all of this, the economic situation in Iran is, you know, unbelievably harsh. One US dollar to today in Tehran was valued something in the neighborhood of 150,000 to 170,000 tomans. I mean, the decline of the Iranian national currency is beyond imagination, and the impact that it has had on inflation, on the price of food, on the surge that it's causing in the price of food and on products, has put the Iranian people in a very unbearable situation."