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Editorial: Change Is on the Horizon

Iran: Change Is on the Horizon

Iran saw many protests carried out during the year 2018. They started the previous December and continued throughout the year with the people of Iran making sure that momentum was maintained. They made it very clear that they are deeply unhappy with the ruling clerical regime and it was certainly no secret that they hope for regime change.

The people have been suffering for decades under the rule of the mullahs and they have watched their leadership plunder the nation’s wealth. The widespread corruption is present at all levels of the country’s leadership and the people are fed up with watching the regime prioritise its malign adventures abroad over the needs of the people.

The people of Iran are getting poorer and poorer and face further hardship. The economy is deteriorating and purchasing power is declining. And still the regime refuses to act – instead it passes the blame off on foreign powers.

On the 30th December every year, the mullahs in Iran’s capital city traditionally line the streets to make public their celebration marking the failure of the people in their attempts to topple the regime during the 2009 uprising.

However, this year, the ambiance was markedly different to that of previous years because of the current climate in Iran. The people’s determination for regime change and the support of the Iranian opposition is something that the ruling mullahs cannot ignore or dismiss as insignificant.

Usually the Iranian regime would downplay critical situations and try to portray positivity but it is getting to the stage where it can no longer do this.

A member of Iran regime’s Parliament, Jahanbackhsh Mohebinia, said that the past year has been “eventful” and warned that in the coming year “there will be a catastrophe”.
Another member of Iranian Parliament, Gholam Ali Jafarzadeh, issued a warning about the probable spread of the uprising. He said: “When they [the poor people] are seen as a group of wronged and oppressed people, other parts of the society [the middle class] can identify with them and provide them with opportunities to further spread.”

The regime seems more than aware that the people’s ultimate goal is regime change and it knows that there is going to be further movement across the country in the coming months. Friday prayer leader in Mashhad, Ahmad Alamolhoda, said: “This story isn’t the story of 2009. This story is much stronger and is the story of us now.”

He explicitly acknowledges the people’s attempts to “topple the Velayat-e faqih”. “The Supreme Leader recently stated that the enemy is paving the way in 2017/2018 and wants to see its results in the 2019/2020 revolt. When ten years have passed since the 2009 revolt, the enemy wants to enter an arena where they exactly repeat the 2009 revolt in 2019/2020.”

The year 2019 is going to be defining Iran and for its leadership. There is no chance of the people relenting in their quest for freedom, democracy and the respect of human rights and they have come so far in their struggle. This is evident even through the simple fact that the regime acknowledges the popular unrest instead of denying it.