By the time of this writing, we had the names of 385 protesters killed, including 40 women and 32 children, and 7 security men. A further 12,500 people have been arrested, according to statistics presented to the International Committee of the Red Cross.
"People just don't believe what our authorities say," complains former Islamic Majlis (parliament) member Masud Pezeshkian.
Living in another time zone that bears no relation to reality, the Khomeinist regime is deeply anachronistic. It boasts about conquering the world for the Khomeinist version of Islam while not a single nation has bought or is likely to buy that bundle.
While it lives in another time, the Khomeinist regime also thinks it lives on another planet.
The Supreme Guide boasts of his imaginary triple alliance with China and Russia to "end American domination". But the fact is that neither China nor Russia is prepared to put a penny into the Khomeinist begging bowl.
Even if it weathers the current storm, the Khomeinist system is on life-support and borrowed time.
Even in new versions, the old recipe from the devil's kitchen won't whet the Iranian people's appetite.
Living in another time zone that bears no relation to reality, Iran's Khomeinist regime is deeply anachronistic. It boasts about conquering the world for the Khomeinist version of Islam while not a single nation has bought or is likely to buy that bundle.
The kitchen is the same, as is the chef. The ingredients are also the same. But when the witches' brew is served in the restaurant, Chez Ayatollah, would-be clients reject it in disgust. This is the image that comes to mind as the Islamic Republic of Iran struggles to crush the latest popular revolt.
Since its inception 43 years ago, the Khomeinist regime has used the same recipe with the same ingredients to save its skin: kill a few hundred, arrest a few thousand, bribe the military and security forces, browbeat celebrities, ban foreign journalists, unleash militia hounds, blame "Zionist and CIA agents", and invent "secessionist" armed gangs and ISIS attackers coming to dismember Iran and kill innocent Shiites.
The recipe has been used against the current uprising, so far, without extinguishing the fire of anger raised by a large segment of Iranian people, notably the youth.
By the time of this writing, we had the names of 385 protesters killed, including 40 women and 32 children, and 7 security men. A further 12,500 people have been arrested, according to statistics presented to the International Committee of the Red Cross. An attack on a "holy shrine" in Shiraz has been presented as an ISIS operation against Shiite worshippers, and turning the city of Zahedan into a war zone has been narrated as a riposte against terrorists invading Iran from Pakistan.
None of that, however, has bridged the credibility gap from which the Islamic Republic suffers.
"People just don't believe what our authorities say," complains former Islamic Majlis (parliament) member Masud Pezeshkian.
Because it is clear that the old recipe doesn't work, most of the regime's clerical, military, business, and propaganda heavyweights have either remained silent or equivocated in commenting about the protests. This time they are not marching to the usual drum calls while an increasingly clueless "Supreme Guide" plays a solitary mandolin while the city burns.
So, what to do?
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Amir Taheri was the executive editor-in-chief of the daily Kayhan in Iran from 1972 to 1979. He has worked at or written for innumerable publications, published eleven books, and has been a columnist for Asharq Al-Awsat since 1987.
This article was originally published by Asharq al-Awsat and is reprinted by kind permission of the author.
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Pictured: Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi speaks during a rally outside the former US embassy in the Tehran on November 4, 2022, to celebrate the 43rd anniversary of the storming of the embassy by Islamist hostage-takers. (Photo by Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images)
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