Arabs exporting their uprisings to Iran

Islam Mohamed

Demonstrators on Arab streets have succeeded in exporting their revolutions to Iran, a longtime source of unrest for the Arab world.

Iran was at the center of the protests that erupted in both Iraq and Lebanon. The protests then spread like wildfire to the streets of Iran.

In both countries, demonstrators chanted slogans against the policies of the Iranian regime. They also called for toppling their own regimes.

The same thing is happening in Iran now, with the demonstrators in a large number of Iranian cities calling for the downfall of the Iranian regime.

The protest mechanisms in both cases are also similar. The demonstrators in Iraq and Lebanon, on one hand, and in Iran, on the other, are cutting roads and raising placards and signs with their demands written on them. They are doing this in a peaceful manner.

In Iraq and Iran, the authorities are acting in the same brutal manner toward the demonstrators. Iran’s mullahs move the security establishments in both countries, which is why the reaction to the protests is almost the same.

The Iraqi and Iranian governments cut internet services, accuse the demonstrators of being “traitors”, and say they receive financing from foreign agencies.

The official Iranian, IRNA news agency, quoted an advisor of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on November 16 as saying that his country would not allow foreign media to decide its future.

The eruption of protests in Iran was expected, especially after protests broke out in Iraq and Lebanon. The three countries experience the same conditions. They are controlled by almost the same people.

In Iran, the demonstrators are accusing the government of widening the gap between the poor and the rich. They accuse Iranian leaders of stealing the money of the people and spending it on foreign wars and conflicts.

Iranian opposition leader Maryam Rajavi called on Iranian citizens to join in the protests.

This, she said, would be the only way they could get rid of the regime that brought poverty and crises to their country.

Iranian affairs specialist Mohamed Abadi cited corruption and rampant poverty as main reasons for the protests in Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon.

The Iranian regime had failed in winning the hearts of peoples in the countries where Iran has influence, he told The Reference.