GREGORY TOSI: Iran’s Transformation Underway
Iran’s dictators continue to thumb their noses at the world. They say their nuclear program remains “intact” despite the U.S. airstrikes in June. They recently threatened to launch “2,000 missiles at once” against…
Iran’s dictators continue to thumb their noses at the world. They say their nuclear program remains “intact” despite the U.S. airstrikes in June. They recently threatened to launch “2,000 missiles at once” against Israel and U.S. forces if attacked again. The country faces renewed sanctions, which have emboldened a rising opposition among the desperate Iranian people.
The mullahs-in-charge appear on the verge of facing another revolution because Iran tragically has abandoned the grand promises of the 1979 overthrow of the Shah. Instead of bringing social justice, freedom, democracy, and prosperity, the theocrats cracked down. They brought censorship, death, destruction, and suffering for Iranians trapped in a failed state.
The regime instigates regional instability through threats of nuclear blackmail and the destruction of Israel. It sponsors and spreads proxy wars and terrorism through Hezbollah, Hamas, and militant groups across the Middle East. If the region is a tinderbox, Iran is the match.
Internal and external aggression are often the last gasp of a weak, isolated, and failing regime. So, it is with Iran. The economy is collapsing. A corrupt military oligarchy controls 60 percent of the economy, leveraging it for repression and riches for “Aghazadehs,” sons of the regime’s elites who drive Ferraris to luxury condos past starving children.
For the typical Iranian family, income has stagnated since the 1980s while taxes have quadrupled over the last three years.Food prices have spiked nearly 60 percent since last fall, and bread lines stretch for blocks. Medicine costs have skyrocketed. Large numbers of Iranians live below the poverty line. The most despondent have turned to prostitution or are selling their kidneys to support their families.
Yet Iran spent billions on its nuclear program. The resource-rich nation faces severe shortages of water and energy. The environment is dying, with 90 percent of wetlands in danger. Air pollution exceeds safe levels for two-thirds of the year.
The authoritarian regime, meanwhile, suppresses free expression through media and internet censorship, blocking popular platforms and shutting down online access. Police attack peaceful protests. Executions are a tool of repression, surging by 63 percent, from 550 in 2022 to 1,600 this year. Human Rights Watch