The protests in Iran have been building for weeks. Initially, the demonstrations were organized by merchants in December in response to a huge fall in the value of the Iranian Rial, their currency. Soon thereafter, the protests expanded to include students and workers and became a massive outpouring of citizens rejecting the country’s tyrannical Islamic regime.
This theocracy has been ruling Iran with an iron grip since the overthrow of the Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, in 1979. Since then, Iran has become the largest benefactor for the world’s deadliest terrorist organizations, such as Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis.
In response to the protests, the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, claimed that the government “would not back down.” This statement is not surprising as the radical Islamic leaders of Iran have brutally responded to previous protests.
In 2009, the “Green Movement” protests erupted in Iran with demands for democratic reforms. While the world watched, and then U.S. President Barack Obama did nothing, the protests were savagely suppressed by the Iranian government.
In this case, President Trump stressed the U.S. response will be different. On Saturday, Trump posted on social media, “Iran is looking at FREEDOM…like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!!”
On Friday, Trump issued a warning to the Iranian government, “that if they start killing people like they have in the past, we will get involved…hitting them very hard where it hurts.”
The President has reviewed military options and is poised to act, if necessary, but has ruled out “boots on the ground.” Certainly, after the U.S. military strike on the three Iranian nuclear facilities in June and the flawless operation in Venezuela to extract their dictator, Nicolas Maduro, the Iranian mullahs know that Trump is serious.
In fact, on Friday, the U.S. State Department posted on social media a direct message to the Iranian regime, “Do not play games with President Trump.” Despite these warnings, protesters have been targeted by Iranian security forces with 500 reportedly killed and 10,000 arrested.
The Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) conveyed eyewitness accounts that “hospitals were overwhelmed, blood supplies are critically low, bodies are being piled up, and the number of casualties is rising by the hour.” The CHRI warned that “a massacre is unfolding” and encouraged international action to “prevent further loss of life.”
To combat the growing protests, the government has restricted public communication and shutdown the Internet. According to German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, the Iranian government “has…lost its legitimacy. They are afraid of their own population.”
This fear was on display on Sunday as Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian claimed in an interview that the government was finally “ready to listen to its people.” Hopefully, these courageous protesters will not be deterred by the words of a desperate ruler trying to cling to power.
With momentum building, the end may be near for this destructive regime. If so, what is next? Whatever direction Iran goes, it will be an improvement over the current government.
One alternative may be the restoration of the monarchy under the leadership of the Shah’s son, Reza Pahlavi. Among the videos of the demonstrations is one of a protester spray painting his name on a billboard.
Another one shows the massive scale of the demonstrations, as thousands of citizens protest in the streets. Change in Iran is only possible because of these courageous Iranians.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio praised them for their bravery. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that his citizens “stand in awe of the immense bravery of Iran’s citizens.” He pledged that Israel would support “their struggle for freedom.”
In contrast to the fearless citizens of Iran risking their lives to advocate for freedom are the protests that are multiplying throughout the United States to demand the end of U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) raids. At some demonstrations, leftist agitators have called for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem to be hung and for ICE agents to be killed.
The recent protests are in response to Wednesday’s fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent in Minneapolis. Video evidence showed that Good ignored a demand from an ICE officer to exit her vehicle, and, instead, drove toward another ICE officer, who fatally shot her in self-defense.
In the minutes prior to the shooting, Good was blowing her car’s horn and blocking the street where ICE agents were working. In a post on their social media account, DHS claimed that Good was an “anti-ICE agitator” who “was STALKING and IMPEDING a law enforcement operation over the course of the morning.”
Good was trained as an anti-ICE activist and her behavior was typical of the unhinged response to ICE operations throughout the country. ICE agents are removing dangerous criminals who are in the country illegally. These agents are putting their lives on the line to protect their fellow Americans.
Instead of thanking ICE agents for their bravery, leftwing activists have tried to prevent them from completing their missions and have publicized their home addresses, thereby putting their families at risk.
In Good’s case, she engaged in “domestic terrorism,” and her tragic death was the result of a justified shooting. It should serve as a warning to other leftwing activists not to impede ICE operations. Instead, more protests have started nationwide to shut down ICE raids and prevent the deportation of illegal aliens.
A better use of time for these protesters would be to organize political action to elect a President in the 2028 election who will allow unimpeded illegal immigration.
By electing Trump in 2024, Americans voted for these ICE raids. ICE agents are fulfilling his promise to the American electorate.
Sadly, in America, protesters are trying to negate the “will of the people,” and the results of a lawful election, In Iran, protesters are trying to end a tyrannical government and establish one that follows “the will of the people.” Quite a difference.
Jeff Crouere is a native New Orleanian and his award-winning program, “Ringside Politics,” airs Saturdays from Noon until 1 p.m. CT nationally on Real America's Voice TV Network & AmericasVoice.News and weekdays from 7-9 a.m. & 6-7 p.m. CT on WGSO 990-AM & Wgso.com. He is a political columnist, the author of America's Last Chance, and provides regular commentaries on the Jeff Crouere YouTube channel and at Crouere.net. For more information, email him at jcrouere@gmail.com
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