As Iranian protests approach their one-month anniversary, the regime increasingly appears willing to take a page from the Syrian government’s playbook by unleashing tremendous violence. Public sources suggest casualties are now in the hundreds, but as the regime turns off cellphone and internet access, there is no knowing what is going on in smaller towns and faraway provinces. It is clear, however, that ordinary civilians are beginning to fight back against the security forces and paramilitary Basij.
That the regime has lost its legitimacy among the broader Iranian public is without doubt. Leader Ali Khamenei has made instilling revolutionary values in “the youth” a frequent theme of his sermons. It did not work. The September 2020 execution of 27-year-old wrestling champion Navid Afkari on trumped-up charges dating back to the 2018 anti-government protests showed just how frightened the Iranian regime was of any charismatic figure from the younger generation around whom ordinary Iranians might rally.
