Demos continue in Iran, but not even protesters know why
– Several days after protests broke out in Iran, uncertainty still lingers among policy makers – and even demonstrators themselves – as to what the rallies are really about.
In the first protests on Thursday, demonstrators seemed to be airing their grievances at the government – including the high cost of living, unemployment and Tehran’s Middle East policies.
But it might be more complicated than that.
“The problems of the people are not simply economic in nature,” said Iranian President Hassan Rowhani during an emergency security summit yesterday to address the growing protests.
“They’re also demanding more freedoms,” the reformer said in an indirect slam on regime hardliners who oppose his attempts to push through political and cultural reforms.
“But this government does not have everything under its control,” he added, referring to the fact that final authority on many key matters rests with the conservative clerics who hold key levers of power.
The slogans of the spreading protests were often not directed at economic policy, but the country’s regime: “Shame on your mullahs, leave our country alone”; “We’ll get our country back”; and “Death to the Taliban”.
“That no longer has anything to do with reformers and non-reformers in the country and is tar- geting the entire Islamic establishment,” said Ahmad Khatami, a member of Iran’s Assembly of Experts clerical body.
Other demonstrators have directed their attention at the regime’s policies in the Middle East. “Not Gaza, not Syria, not Lebanon, we will only sacrifice ourselves for Iran”; and “Instead of solutions for Syria, solutions for our own country”, some protesters chanted.
Iran is one of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s main allies and supports him militarily. Iran is also a key backer of Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement.
Tehran regularly dismisses such protests as a conspiracy led by Iran’s opponents, such as the US, Israel and Saudi Arabia.
“Using social networks, they try to poison the thoughts of our young,” said Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Movahedi-Kermani, a member of the Assembly of Experts, at Friday prayers in Tehran.
MP Mahmoud Sadeghi disagreed, writing on Twitter: “We have to respond to the demands of the people and not hide behind conspiracy theories.”– dpa