The other day we talked about an ambush and assassination of protesters in Iran by the regime's military. There's no question that we should support the protesters, and they are likely encouraged by Trump's willingness to hold sanctions in place.
At least one writer says it's worth it. Foundation for Defense of Democracies is a DC-based research institute which I only recently discovered. And Saeed Ghasseminejad's article there, Trump’s Iran strategy is working. Here’s why, provides some details. To wit:
Last month, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said: “Iran is experiencing one of its hardest years since the 1979 Islamic revolution. We have never had so many problems in selling oil. We never had so many problems in keeping our oil tanker fleet sailing. Without money, we cannot run the affairs of the state.”
A few days later, in search of revenue, Rouhani made the mistake that ignited the current protests – he decided to ration gasoline and increase prices by as much as 200 percent.
An unprecedented wave of protests swept across 719 locations across the country. Not only did the regime murder protesters – it sought to cover up its violence by stealing corpses from the morgue and abducting injured demonstrators from hospitals. Thousands of others wound up in prison.
Predictions aside, maximum pressure is doing fine; the Iranian regime is not.
One important cause of poverty for Iran’s 80 million people is the corruption and incompetence of their rulers. Yet thanks to Obama’s nuclear deal and the relief it provided, the regime was able to get by.
...
What all this adds up to is an awful combination of deep recession and high inflation, or stagflation. In October, the IMF said Iran’s gross domestic product will shrink by 9.5 percent this year, a number on par with failed states like Libya and Venezuela.
Despots seem to hang onto power even in the most adverse of times. But maybe, just maybe, the mullahs will get the boot and rationality will set in. Sounds almost impossible, but we can hope.
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2:10 PM 12/15/2019
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