Put aside for a moment Ayatollah Khamenei’s latest threat to Israel (and Israel’s response). Pay attention to what’s actually happening inside Iran. Potkin Azarmehr reports: Throughout the December protests in Iran, one common chant by the protesters was, “Let go of Gaza and Syria, think about our plight”. Iran’s state TV and media often boast of the regime’s generous charity work outside Iran. For those inside Iran, watching the regime’s prioritise others’ needs in contrast with their own poverty is becoming unbearable. On Monday, Iranian media published a video of a state run charity, Imam Khomeini Relief Committee, feeding 300,000 Palestinians in Gaza with an Iftar dinner, for the month…

Remember the spontaneous anti-regime protests that sprung up throughout Iran in late December and early January? It’s time to pay attention again. First time ever since the Islamic Revolution that protesters take over Fri Prayers sermon, the bedrock of regime support!Does the world appreciate whats happening in Iran? pic.twitter.com/QoKLh0ghHg — Potkin Azarmehr (@potkazar) March 16, 2018 #Steel workers on strike in Iran chant "They say our enemy is America, Our enemy is right here"#IranSteelWorkersStrike pic.twitter.com/fu8jYD8kVA — Potkin Azarmehr (@potkazar) March 12, 2018 Striking steel workers in Ahvaz, SW Iran“Neither threats nor imprisonment, will sway us’ pic.twitter.com/j5W3Jqa0LV — Potkin Azarmehr (@potkazar) March 17, 2018

I know many Harry’s Place commenters have reacted angrily to The New York Times’s coverage of the Iranian protests. But as the uprising continues into its second week, and as the regime tries to crack down by arresting and attacking protesters and cutting off their means of communication, I found a recent Times piece by Amir Ahmadi Arian on the outbreak of rage on the streets of Iran informative and credible. Arian starts by noting the differences between the current revolt and the protests that followed the rigged presidential election in 2009. So far, the middle class and the highly educated have been more witnesses than participants. Nonviolence is not…

In his piece in today’s Guardian Simon Tisdall gives no space to the various concerns voiced by protesters across Iran. The article is titled: Iran’s enemies would be wise not to wish for regime change and its first sentence reads: Like birds of prey circling high in the desert sky, Iran’s many foes and rivals are watching the street protests in Tehran and other cities with beady-eyed anticipation. Tisdall could have found reasonable targets for specific criticism amongst enemies of Iran’s current regime –  for example he might have identified the disjuncture between Trump’s expressions of support for the Iranian people and his inclusion of Iran in the travel ban.  But…

Conservative writer Bill Kristol has a wise take on how those of us outside Iran should be reacting to the current uprising against the corrupt and oppressive regime of the Islamic Republic. Here's a crazy idea: The foreign policy/Middle East/Iran experts who are taking shots at each other for alleged past Iran policy mistakes might spend just a little of their time helping figure out what the U.S.–the administration, Congress, others–could usefully do now. — Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) December 30, 2017 The operative word here is usefully. Kristol offers one idea that makes a lot of sense: namely, help the Iranian protesters get around the regime’s efforts to shut down…

Protesters in Tehran tear down a poster of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. پاره کردن عکس رهبر جمهوری اسلامی به دست معترضان در #تهران#تجمع‌های_اعتراضی pic.twitter.com/eD9MqAeOKj — RadioFarda راديوفردا (@RadioFarda_) December 30, 2017 Surely much more to come. Update: Anti-government protest in Khoramabad: "We don't want an Islamic republic." #Iranprotests https://t.co/OjW2lMvaTa — Golnaz Esfandiari (@GEsfandiari) December 30, 2017 Further update: Check out #Iranprotests on Twitter. Protesters seem more willing to challenge Khamenei and the Islamic Republic by name than they were in 2009, when the demonstrations were mostly about fraud in a regime-sponsored election. Clearly this isn’t just about “reform.” Additional update: And of course… Confirmed CIA/Mossad operation. pic.twitter.com/kXuHF0lwsW — Will…