The demonstrations which began in Iran on Dec. 28, 2017, have never completely petered out. Every few days, protesters seemingly spontaneously take to the streets in a different city or province motivated less by high politics than accumulated frustration with 40 years of corruption, repression, and failed economic promise.

Today, however, the slow motion uprising in the Islamic Republic took a new turn. Crowds have marched through the streets chanting “Marg bar Filistin” (Death to Palestine!), voicing their frustration at the priorities of an unelected leadership which prefers to transfer billions of dollars to a conflict in which Iran has no natural interest while many Iranians go hungry.