Burning buildings, cars and banks, protesters lashed out at Iran’s conservative clerical government as gasoline and basic commodities go through the roof. Since 73-year-old President Donald Trump backed out of former President Barack Obama’s July 15, 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action AKA “the Iranian Nuke Deal” May 8., 2019, Iran’s economy has suffered again under U.S. and European Union [EU] sanctions. Demonstrators demanded that Iran’s mullahs step down after mismanaging the Iranian economy. Trump has blasted Iran’s mullah’s rulers for turning a prosperous, pro-Western economy under the Shah of Iran before the 1979 Islamic Revolution into its current deteriorated state. Over 100 banks and countless numbers of buildings have been torched by violent protesters. Iran’s cleric-run Revolutionary Guards promise a merciless crackdown if the protests continue.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have become the institutional equivalent of the Nazi SS, the heavily armed militia responsible for enforcing Hitler’s oppressive crackdown on Germany society. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps [IRGC] assures permanent rule of Iran’s clerics that have a stranglehold on Iran’s businesses and industry. Trump backed out of the Iranian Nuke Deal after Iran continued its proxy war against Saudi Arabia, arming-and-supplying-cash to Yemen’s Houthi rebels. Iran also funds-and-arms Palestinians’ Hamas terror group and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia, both committed to destroying Israel. Iran’s latest crackdown shows how rank-and-file Iranians have no say with Iran’s mullah rulers, leaving ordinary citizens scrapped for cash, unable to meet basic necessities. Today’s unrest spreading around Iran is the worst since 2017, when young Iranians took to the streets.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have jammed Internet access, preventing protesters from spreading unrest on social networks like Facebook and Google. “If necessary, we will take decisive action and revolutionary action against any continued moves to disturb people’s peace and security,” said Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, warning protesters that the same crackdown that stopped demonstrators in 2017 could happen again. Iran’s IRGC talks of disturbing “peace and security” when ordinary Iranians can’t afford to put gas in their cars. Iran’s clerics have disturbed “peace-and-security” by mismanaging the Iranian economy, putting most resources into military adventures that offer ordinary Iranians nothing. Iran’s Guards and Basij militia—carrying out the Guard’s dirty work—have already killed 22 demonstrators, trying to stop protests. Violent protests underscore the public’s frustrations.
Iran blames nationwide protests on the U.S, Israel or other enemies, anything but taking responsibility for Iran’s failing economy. Iran’s 80-year-old Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and his 71-year-old puppet President Hassan Rouhani continue to antagonize the U.S. and EU, ramping up more uranium enrichment. While Iran claims it has no interest in building an A-bomb, it threatens to ramp up uranium enrichment, the basis for the Iranian Nuke Deal. Iran got billions in cash and sanctions relief agreeing to a 10-year ban on weapons grad uranium. As soon as Trump cancelled the Nuke Deal May 8, 2017, Iran threatened more uranium enrichment. Rouhani claims that the government raised pump prices to generate $2.65 billion to help 18 million Iranian families. Whether that’s true or not, ordinary Iranians have watched their currency devalued, as gas and commodities skyrocket.
Iran’s 59-year-old global mouthpiece U.S.-educated Foreign Minister Mohammad Javid Zarif blamed Trump for fueling the protests. “A regime that impedes food and medicine to ordinary people, including the elderly and the sick, by economic terrorism can never get away with the obscene claim of supporting the Iranian people,” Zarif told Iran’s IRNA state run media. Zarif worked for two years with former Secretary of State John Kerry on the Nuke Deal, only to watch Trump terminate the agreement May 8, 2017. Former Obama officials had no problems handing Iran $16 billion in cash and $150 billion in sanctions relief, only to watch Iran foment revolution around the Middle East and North Africa. Obama and Kerry wholeheartedly backed the Saudi proxy war to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Zarif blames the U.S. because he can’t criticize his own regime.
Blaming foreign governments and unidentified foes, Khamenei continues the pernicious propaganda that’s become the hallmark of mullah rule. Calling his enemies “thugs,” Khamenei takes no responsibility for Iran’s economic crisis. Iran’s ruling class hopes to win votes in upcoming elections, raising more welfare for the poor. “Those 60 million people who will receive cash handouts as a result of this price hike will surely vote because the economy is a key issue for many Iranians,” said an unnamed Iranian official. Too busy staging proxy wars in the Mideast and North Africa, Iran’s mullah government has little regard for working class Iranians. Trump’s new sanctions have hit Iran’s financial markets hard, devaluing an already battered Rial currency. Watching protesters beaten down by Iran’s IRGC and Basij militia should warn the world about dangerous military crackdowns.
