Analysts speculated that hardliners had encouraged the original economic protest Thursday to undermine and embarrass Rouhani, a plan that appears to have backfired as people took to the streets for a wider set of grievances. Rouhani’s First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri appeared to make a reference to such a scenario in a speech delivered Friday.
“The ones who trigger political moves in the streets may not be the ones who will put an end to it, since others may ride the wave they have started, and they must know that their action will backfire on them,” he said at a medical conference, according to the Iranian Students’ News Agency.
But Rouhani himself may have contributed to the anger. For the first time ever, when he unveiled the new budget a month ago, he included previously undisclosed details about how much money went to unaccountable religious foundations, research centers, and other institutions close to the leadership.
“People learned how the religious class is basically swallowing the big chunk of the budget without any accountability while people’s daily life is becoming harder,” said Memarian.
Rouhani is a wily insider, and has in the past proven adept at using such dissatisfaction as a cudgel against the hardliners’ control. But the protests could also further empower hardliners if perceived as part of a foreign intervention. Already Iranian news agencies were pointing to US Senator Tom Cotton, an Iran hawk, tweeting his support for the protesters. Fars, a news agency seen as close to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, denounced the protests as organized by “counter-revolutionaries.”
Many reports of peaceful protests by Iranian citizens fed up with regime’s corruption & its squandering of the nation’s wealth to fund terrorism abroad. Iranian govt should respect their people’s rights, including right to express themselves. The world is watching! #IranProtests
President Trump on Friday night blamed the protests on Iranians’ desire for a regime free of corruption and terrorism. He added a warning to the Iranian government should it violate its people’s rights.
“The world is watching!”
Article Appeared @https://www.buzzfeed.com/borzoudaragahi/heres-whats-behind-irans-biggest-protests-in-seven-years?utm_term=.hnKpeyD29#.ohZKQ2LZW
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