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Economically, Iran is in the process of coming apart. Its GDP steadily sinks. More than 40% of Iranians are now living below the poverty line. The rial is at an historic low, having lost 25% of its value just since September; it now stands at 820,000 rials to a dollar. Since the establishment of the Islamic government in 1979, the Iranian currency has undergone an 11,000-fold decline in value.
Politically Iran is on its back foot. It has seen all of its major allies, that were formerly part of Iran’s “Shi’a crescent” — Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, and the Assad regime in Syria —fall away. In Gaza, Hamas is being systematically dismantled by the IDF, with 20,000 of its fighters killed and many more wounded. In Lebanon, Hezbollah has been battered by the IDF. Four thousand of its operatives have been killed, thousands more wounded, and 80% of its once-formidable arsenal of rockets and missiles destroyed by the IAF. Hezbollah had to beg for a ceasefire that requires it to remove all of its men and weapons north of the Litani River. In Syria, the rebels have toppled the Assad despotism, and once the loyal ally of Iran, Syria has now become the archenemy of the Islamic Republic, precisely because Iran for so long supported the Assad regime. Iran invested $50 billion in keeping Assad in power; now that $50 billion has gone up in smoke, and the Iranian people are keenly aware of that loss, which has enraged many of them.
More on the current dismal of Iran’s economy, its military weakness, and the growing fury of its population with the regime of the mullahs, can be found here: “$50 billion to Syria vanished into thin air: Unrest in Iran grows over economic turmoil – interview,” by Peled Arbeli, Jerusalem Post, January 10, 2025:
Iran’s public discontent surged in recent weeks as economic hardships, including widespread power outages and rising inflation, fueled calls for change, Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) researcher Benny Sabti told Maariv on Friday.
Sabti began by describing the growing frustration among the Iranian population. “People are very angry with the regime for squandering funds, oil revenues, and resources on Syria, which fell alongside Hezbollah,” he said. “The regime has poured $50 billion into Syria from 2000 until now, all of which vanished into thin air, along with funds sent to Lebanon and other places.” According to Sabti, the Iranian public views this as “a regime failure.”
Sabti believes recent events have given Iranians hope. He pointed to key incidents, such as the reported elimination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, which exposed the Iranian regime’s vulnerabilities, and “the fall of Gaza.” He emphasized: “All of this gives the Iranian public—80% of whom oppose the regime—hope.”…
Most Iranians — 80% of them, according to the Israeli researcher Benny Sabti — oppose the regime and have taken heart from the Israelis’ victories over both Hamas and Hezbollah, for both terror groups are seen, correctly, as allies of the Tehran regime. They have been especially impressed by Mossad’s spectacular ability to assassinate, in the middle of a heavily-guarded guest house in Tehran, the Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. These Iranians were pleased when the IAF managed to destroy Iran’s S-300 anti-aircraft systems, and the plant producing fuel for ballistic missiles. They are waiting for an IDF attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, which they believe will cause the Iranian leadership to be so publicly humiliated by the “Zionist entity,” as to lose all face, and be vulnerable to being toppled by a popular uprising.
Sabti described worsening living conditions: “There are daily power outages lasting six to seven hours in Tehran and across the country, with even longer outages in remote areas. Water shortages follow the power cuts, and air pollution worsens because there isn’t enough clean gas to heat factories and homes. Instead, they burn ship fuel, which causes severe pollution until it’s stopped. The result is freezing temperatures and city shutdowns.” He added: “On some days, people are forbidden to leave their homes—children, adults, government offices, and banks alike.”…
This is the daily nightmare experienced by Iranians, a nightmare of constant and long power outages, water shortages, a spike in water pollution, a lack of clean gas replaced by ship fuel to heat buildings that results in still greater air pollution, which then leads to heating being cut off, and ordinary Iranians enduring freezing temperatures are told to remain at home in order not to be out breathing the polluted air in the cities.
The regime is so worried about more street demonstrations that it now views as inevitable, that it has now been drilling the security services to deal with such manifestations of popular fury. But clubbing protesters so as to end their demonstrations will only serve to further enrage the demonstrators.
Militarily, Iran is weaker now than it has been at any time since the ayatollahs came to power in 1979. It has been stripped of its former military allies in Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria, the first two because of actions taken by the IDF, the third because the HTS rebels almost bloodlessly overturned the Assad regime, sending Bashar fleeing to Moscow. The Israeli Air Force has stripped Iran of its S-300 anti-aircraft defenses, and of the manufacturing plant where it made fuel for its ballistic missiles.
The 80% of Iranians who now wish for an end to the regime are hoping that Trump will reimpose the sanctions on Iran that Biden had lifted, turning the screws still tighter on the Iranian economy, which will, in turn, increase the level of disaffection with the regime. And they are even hoping for Israel to destroy Iran’s nuclear program, which will be such a public humiliation that could weaken the regime to the point that it will, after 45 years, finally crumble into dust.
I understand that in Iran they quit walking over a large American Flag painted on the Street/Sidewalk They should really be walking over painting of a Antifa Flag and Commie Flag as well
I read quite some time ago that an Israeli flag painted on a walkway at the university for students to walk over was studiously avoided.
After restoring so many Trump policies from his first term, I’ve been waiting for the Maximum Pressure sanctions to be reimposed. Such pressure could finally collapse Iran’s regime. But with some new advisers who appear to oppose a strike on Iran’s nuclear sites, and Witcoff as a lead “negotiator”, I wonder if Trump has gone soft on Iran, that he’s now looking for diplomacy. That would be a mistake. Maybe Trump will prove my concerns groundless in coming days. I hope so.
Jeez Ray. We are one week in. Give him some time. It always amazes me how many people think they are smarter than Trump.
So if this is all true, the Islamic Republic of Iran of Iran has basically become the middle East equivalent of Zimbabwe, but with oil wells. This is the level of mismanagement in Iran, ironically they started nearly around the same time that the Zanu-PF regime of Robert Mugabe took over in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe, and took the largest food producer in Africa into the largest importer. The main difference between Zimbabwe and Iran being that at least the Zimbabwe regime didn’t squander it’s resources to export war, the regime pilfered it instead. This is why most Canadians can’t wait until the next election because they see Trudeau’s government doing much the same. In contrast Havier Millei has taken Argentina from a basketcase, on the cusp of another economic and monetary collapse, into an awakening giant. It goes to show that resources are worthless if you don’t make good use of them.
It goes to show that resources are worthless if you don’t make good use of them.
Gosh, what amazingly profound insight you have.
Can we round up the top 2500 democrats from the Biden regime and deport them to Iran?
PEOPLE POWER!!!
“The Only Power that can knock the Dam down…. is the water behind it!” sc
Imagine a world without the Mullahs of Iran!
My imagination hs rather weak these days. I really want to SEE it openly manifest. No more theory, I want to SEE reality. Sooner rather than later.
While you’re at it, imagine a world without Islam!
Know Islam-No Peace.
No Islam-Know Peace.
The Iranian rial now stands at 820,000 rials to a dollar? That’s far less value than the Iraqi dinar.
The many arrest and imprisonment and even execution of people , repeatedly, who had peacefully protested that “mullah tyranny” of Iran only further exposes the weak ,fearful and intolerant nature of those in power in the oppressive and brutal “mullah regime “ of Iran.
As a former Muslim revealed an important reality when he wrote “The Islamic republic of Iran exists and operates as what every fundamentalist dreams of, an Islamic state ruled by sharia …” He further exposes that “What followed its establishment was the inevitable consequence and inexorable logic of its Islamic premise; state terrorism, a merciless tyranny.” [1]
Furthermore, in the book entitled HOW ISLAM PLANS TO CHANGE THE WORLD, by William Wagner on page 208 the reader is informed that “The creation of the Islamic republic in Iran has had the effect that many from that country have become disillusioned with Islam and are looking to leave Iran. ” This is a point worth pondering.
Are you kidding?
Did you know the corrupt Islamic regime ranks fourth in the world in terms of cryptocurrency.
According to official statistics, 12 million Iranians, equivalent to 13.5 percent of the total Iranian population, own cryptocurrency. According to official statistics, 12 million Iranians, equivalent to 13.5 percent of the total Iranian population, own cryptocurrency.
That horrendously brutal, cruel oppressive malicious and murderous Islamic regime of Iran, denies the Iranian, people their basic natural human rights.
Therefore, the Iranian people are right and righteous by engaging in bitter and strong protests against those cruel malicious and murderous tyrants in power of that cruel and oppressive Sharia based dictatorship of that Islamic regime of Iran.
In other words, those vicious despots of that horrendously horrific Islamic regime have provoked the people excessively too far.
In addition, some of the people who trapped in and forced to exist in the Islamic dictatorship of Iran might not know about the intellect philosopher John Locke, but his ideas do apply to them. For Mr. Locke taught that any good government has the duty to ensure the security and safety of its citizens. Yet when a tyranny is the people in the tyrannical government do have every natural and ethical right to overthrow that terrible and oppressive tyrannical government.
Remember, Iran is a mini empire ruled by a minority called Persians. The Persian Shia’s is the largest minority group among of many.
– Azeris: The largest minority group, comprising approximately 18 million people or about one-fourth of Iran’s population1.
– Kurds: Concentrated in western Iran, they have sought regional autonomy or independence3.
– Arabs: Primarily located in southwestern Iran2.
– Baluchis: Inhabiting the southeastern region bordering Pakistan3.
– Lors: Seminomadic people living in the western mountains3.
-Turkmen, Qashqai, Mazandarani, Talysh, and Gilaki: Smaller ethnic groups spread across different regions2
– And many others like Bahai, Ismailis and others
Sooner or later Iran will be disintegrated. The same is true for Turkey. What happened in Syria is the beginning of the end of post WWI Skyes-Picot political map.
Iranians are not thinking about separation either. All those who are thinking about the division of Iran know very well that Iran is not like Syria or any other country in the region. Those who have done such a thing throughout history have been enemies of Iran and the Iranian people. Like the corrupt Islamic regime that has done such a thing for the past 46 years.
The deep irony is that the Persian people voluntarily behave as if their nation is under Arab occupation and being run by a dictatorship friendly to Arabs. Until the Persian people wake up and realize that there is no need to act as if a foreign military is occupying their nation, nothing will ever change! It’s high time the Persian people come to the conclusion to remove every trace of Arabic control over them. This begins with overthrowing their dictatorship and putting on trial all the traitors to the Persian people. The next phase begins with reclaiming their language, culture and domestic religion from the overwhelming Arab influence that has suffocated them. I’m mean to Westerners, we’re told their language is Farsi when that’s an Arab pronunciation of Parsi, there’s no P sound in Arabic. Persians need to be bold and outright ban Islam and teardown all mosques. Islam is a foreign religion and Persians shouldn’t care about the stupidity of the dysfunctional Arab world, especially taking sides on whom is the rightful successor of Muhammad.
Persia is not under an Arab occupation but Persians act as if their nation is, which is the crux of the matter. Nor has Arabia installed a puppet regime, the people of Persia did that to themselves. All the problems of Persia today are self-infected, meaning they did this to themselves so they also have the means to reverse this damage. Nobody needs to come to the aid of Persians, they and they alone need to change the course of their nation.
The Iranians are a puzzle. I know there is widespread dissatisfaction with theocratic rule. But this does not translate into acceptance of Jews or Israel’s right to exist in peace.
There was a huge contingent of Iranians on the campus of my graduate school (1976-1980). I knew many of them well and even dated a gorgeous, smart and cultured Iranian woman for a long time. She once flat out told me that she “didn’t like Jews”. Not Zionists nor Israelis, but Jews. It was the one huge blemish on her character. And so many of these students were utterly blinded by their hatred of the Shah and Savak that they couldn’t see what would happen if the theocracy was invited back in — they were hopeless utopians. The woman in question here went rushing back to Iran in the spring of 1979 only to somehow find her way back to the U.S. and our campus months later. She told me it was the worst mess she could imagine.
So the questions are now, if the Iranians are actually capable of breaking free, what replaces the theocracy and have Iranians learned there are much worse things than tolerating both the Jews in their midst and the State of Israel? People are blind to the fact that they are often their own worst enemy.
Both Jews and Muslims and Christians, Zoroastrians, Jews. Baha’i, Assyrians. ….and, other religions exist in Iran had lived side by side for years without any conflict.
Before the Iranian revolution in 1979 we didn’t even have any idea about our neighbors religion. Even though today it is the same for most Iranians. It is better to research and produce statistics about this among Iranians than to talk to 5 or 10 people who have their income from the corrupt Islamic regime
Here I can give a good example to reinforce my statement.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrus_the_Great.
https://t.me/IsraelinFarsi/7930
https://t.me/IsraelinFarsi/7739
https://t.me/IsraelinFarsi/6635
God Bless USA, Israel, Iran and President Trump.
Meanwhile the Son of The Shah who has spent all his life living in Woodside, Portola Valley, California, 100 miles south of San Francisco, and the Family keeps a Plane fueled and ready at SFO so he can be in Iran as soon as those old turbaned headed farts are thrown into the gutter where they belong.
The Shah was in no way perfect but he certainly was a hellova lot better than those clowns that kicked him out in the 1970s and the Shah was treated very badly by the CIA who had kept him in power for decades just as they did with Saddam Hussien and look what happened to him after having been close friends like Bush Sr, Cheney and Rumsfeld.
I hope the people of Iran can get back to where they were in the 1970s.
Look up photos of Tehran in the 1960s and 70s and look at photos of that City today.