Iran Spring?

[waltky]

Arab spring hits Iran...

Iran protests: Two killed, government limits social media
Dec. 31, 2017 -- Two people were killed and Iran's government limited access to various social media applications as anti-government protests in the country entered their fourth day on Sunday.

Habibollah Khojastehpour, the deputy governor of Iran's Lorestan, said two people were killed during protests in Doroud city on Saturday, according to semi-official news agency Mehr News. "Clashes occurred with individuals who had taken to the streets, heeding calls by the enemies of the system," Khojastehpour said. Two protesters were also shot according to video and social media reports on Saturday, but their conditions weren't reported.

Iran restricted access to several social media apps Sunday as two people were killed in ongoing anti-government protests.​

Iran's government limited access Sunday to social media applications such as Instagram and the messaging app Telegram, which have been used to organize protests. "Iranian authorities are blocking access to Telegram for the majority of Iranians after our public refusal to shut down... peacefully protesting channels," Telegram CEO Pavel Durov wrote on Twitter. Iranian Interior Minister Rahmani Fazli had earlier warned that protesters will "pay the price" after the protests became deadly, adding some individuals "are causing violence and fear" by misusing social media and such behavior will be smashed."

U.S. President Donald Trump, who had previously said "the world is watching" the situation in Iran again offered support on Twitter for "big protests" in the country. "The people are finally getting wise as to how their money and wealth is being stolen and squandered on terrorism. Looks like they will not take it any longer," he wrote. "The USA is watching very closely for human rights violations!" Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi had dismissed Trump's previous statements regarding the protests as "hypocritical" and "opportunistic claims."

Iran protests: Two killed, government limits social media

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White House 'Very Concerned' About Iran Blocking Social Media
December 31, 2017 | WASHINGTON — The Trump administration says it is "very concerned" about Tehran blocking Iranians from communicating via social media platforms in a bid to dampen four days of nationwide anti-government protests.

Iran blocked access to messaging app Telegram and photo-sharing app Instagram on Sunday, with state media saying the moves were meant to maintain peace. Iranians had been using the app to communicate about the street demonstrations, the biggest outpouring of public discontent with Iran's clerical leaders since 2009 protests against the results of a disputed presidential election. In an exclusive interview with VOA Persian on Sunday, Deputy Assistant to the President for Strategic Communications Michael Anton said there is not much Washington can do about Iran's social media clampdown. But he said the Trump administration expects U.S. and other western companies to halt any concessions to the Iranian government. "(They should) not bow to any demands for censorship or curtailment of information," Anton said. "(They should) continue doing business the way they always have, and let information flow freely into Iran." He added that U.S. officials will be watching how those companies handle the issue.

Telegram CEO Pavel Durov, a Russian entrepreneur whose company has offices in London, posted a tweet on Sunday, saying Iran had blocked access to the messaging app after his refusal to shut down communication channels that he said were being used for peaceful protests. In an online statement, Durov said it is unclear if the blocking of Telegram will be permanent or temporary. He said Telegram would "rather get blocked in a country by its authorities than limit peaceful expression of alternative opinions." In a separate report published on Sunday, the Associated Press said U.S. tech giant Facebook, which owns Instagram, declined to comment about Iran's blocking of the photo-sharing app. U.S. President Donald Trump criticized the Iranian government in a Sunday tweet for "clos(ing) down the Internet so that peaceful demonstrators cannot communicate".

In his VOA Persian interview, Anton said the White House also is "very concerned" about reports of several deaths and injuries in the four days of anti-government protests in Iran. "We certainly mourn with all of the victims' families and with the people of Iran," he said. Anton said the Trump administration is coordinating with its allies in Europe, the Americas and elsewhere to apply pressure on Tehran to allow the protests to continue and to address the protesters' complaints about the high cost of living, government corruption and lack of democratic freedoms. "We want to let them know that the world's civilized nations stand with them and are in favor of their just grievances being addressed and against the destabilizing behavior and oppression of the regime," Anton said.

President Hassan Rouhani speaks in a cabinet meeting in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Dec. 31, 2017.​

In his first public response to the protests, Iranian state media quoted President Hassan Rouhani on Sunday as acknowledging that Iranians have the right to protest and criticize his government. But, Rouhani said social unrest and destruction of public property are unacceptable. He also said U.S. President Trump had "no right" to sympathize with the Iranian people. The Trump administration labels the Iranian government as the world's top state sponsor of terrorism, a charge Tehran rejects.

White House 'Very Concerned' About Iran Blocking Social Media

Related:

Rouhani: Iranians have right to protest but must avoid violence
December 31, 2017 - President Hassan Rouhani, giving his first public reaction to four days of anti-government protests, said on Sunday Iranians had the right to protest and criticise the authorities but their actions should not lead to violence or damage public property.

“People are absolutely free to criticise the government and protest but their protests should be in such a way as to improve the situation in the country and their life,” Rouhani was quoted by the official IRNA news agency as telling the cabinet. “Criticism is different from violence and damaging public properties.”

Anti-government protesters demonstrated on Sunday in defiance of a warning by the authorities of a tough crackdown, extending for a fourth day one of the most audacious challenges to the clerical leadership since pro-reform unrest in 2009.

Tens of thousands of people have protested across the country since Thursday against the Islamic Republic’s unelected clerical elite and Iranian foreign policy in the region. They have also chanted slogans in support of political prisoners. “Resolving the problems is not easy and would take time. The government and people should help each other to resolve the issues,” Rouhani said, according to IRNA.

Rouhani also rebuffed U.S. President Donald Trump’s comments in support of the protests. “This man in America who is sympathising today with our people has forgotten that he called the Iranian nation terrorists a few months ago. This man who is against the Iranian nation to his core has no right to sympathise with Iranians,” Rouhani said.

Rouhani: Iranians have right to protest but must avoid violence

 

[Penelope]

Trump white house concerned about Iran media when he non stops bashes ours. Are you kidding. Trump slapped new sanctions on Iran and Trump wants war to be a hero to Israel and SA.

 

[waltky]

Granny says, "Ask `em how dat embassy takeover is working out fer `em now?"...

Iran's Supreme Leader Blames Tehran's 'Enemies' For Inciting Protests
January 2, 2018 - Iran's Supreme leader Ali Khamenei, speaking for the first time since protests broke out in his country last week, accuses "enemies of Iran" of meddling in the country. At least 21 people have been killed in the protests that broke out throughout cities across the country since last Thursday, over Iran's weak economy and rising food prices.

Nine of the confirmed dead were killed overnight, according to Iranian state television, which reported that six of them were protesters killed when they stormed a police station in Qahdarijan. An 11-year-old boy and a 20-year-old man were killed in the town of Khomeinishahr. As NPR's Greg Myre reported over the weekend, President Hassan Rouhani issued a televised warning to protesters that his government would show "no tolerance" for anyone who incites unrest. A member of Iran's paramilitary Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was killed in the town of Najafabad, reportedly by a hunting rifle. Such rifles are common in the Iranian countryside, according to The Associated Press, but it was not clear if the IRGC member was the same police officer reportedly shot on Monday night.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei speaks during his meeting with students in Tehran, Iran in October​

Al Jazeera reports that: "[About] 450 people have been arrested with the Tehran governor's deputy giving the following breakdown: 200 on Saturday; 150 on Sunday; and 100 on Monday. The detention figures for other Iranian cities cannot be confirmed." Khamenei, posting on his official website, said: "In the recent days' incidents, enemies of Iran utilized various means - including money, weapon, politics and intelligence apparatuses - to create problems for the Islamic system," he said. The supreme leader said he would elaborate in coming days.

The AP writes: "President Hassan Rouhani has acknowledged the public's anger over the Islamic Republic's flagging economy, though he and others warned that the government would not hesitate to crack down on those it considers lawbreakers. All the protest rallies so far haven't received prior permission from the Interior Ministry, making them illegal under Iranian law." President Trump on Monday said Iran is "failing," writing in a tweet that the "great" Iranian people have been "repressed for many years" and that now is the "TIME FOR CHANGE!" in Iran.

Iran's Supreme Leader Blames Tehran's 'Enemies' For Inciting Protests

 

[waltky]

Dey's only now crabbin' `bout high gas prices???...

Here's What Makes Iran's Anti-Regime Protests Different This Time
January 4, 2018 • The scholar Farideh Farhi examines why this fresh round of Iranian unrest is unlike the others.

The protests that began last week in Iran are different from most unrest that has previously roiled the country since its 1979 revolution. They have covered more geography, engulfing small and midsize cities across the country. But they also have reportedly drawn smaller turnouts than the massive 2009 election protests in Tehran. Although more information is needed about the makeup of the demonstrators, significant differences have emerged. Iranian reformists and middle-class residents in large urban areas are reported to have largely steered clear this time around. Economic protests are not rare in Iran. When they occur it's usually in response to a specific government action.

For example, Mashhad, the northeastern city where the latest demonstrations began, was rocked by protests and riots in 1992 after authorities tried to demolish homes built without permits in a squatter area on the city's periphery. Several police officers were killed, government buildings destroyed, hundreds were arrested and at least four protesters were executed. Then there was the 1994 protests in Qazvin, northwest Iran. That was triggered when the Iranian parliament's narrowly rejected legislation to create a new province with the city of Qazvin as its capital. But, like in Islamshahr, the structural adjustment policies of then-President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and high inflation were broader underlying factors. Qazvin did become a province a couple of years later.

In 1995, protests in the squatter settlements of Islamshahr, on the southwestern outskirts of Tehran, were set off by an increase in public transportation costs. The domestic security forces of the Revolutionary Guard cracked down after protesters took over government and law enforcement buildings. It is not known how many people were killed. The latest protests are different in that they are spread out and simultaneous, probably thanks to the existence of social media and not necessarily in reaction to particular triggers specific to the cities involved. (Although, in Kermanshah, an inept government response to a recent earthquake may have been a delayed trigger.) The wider spread and simultaneity of the latest protests have led some outside observers, perhaps dreaming of regime change, to overlook key elements.

The most significant missing element is the reported lack of a middle-class presence in protests within large urban areas. Many of these folks were key participants in the 2009 protests and, a few years later, instrumental in President Hassan Rouhani's election. The economic and political centrality of cities like Tehran, Tabriz and Isfahan makes their presence critical for a broad-based challenge of central authority. It's not that the many segments of the Iranian middle class are content with current conditions in Iran, the government or regime. Rather, they are ambivalent about the drivers behind the protests and implications for their personal security. Also missing is organizational leadership. This is partly due to the suppression of independent labor and nongovernmental organizations, which could provide conduits for citizens to air their grievances and demands to the government.

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[sealybobo]

Trump white house concerned about Iran media when he non stops bashes ours. Are you kidding. Trump slapped new sanctions on Iran and Trump wants war to be a hero to Israel and SA.

My Iranian buddy says the Iranian people love trump and want him to overthrow that government. And I believe the Iranian people are civilized and smart enough to adopt democracy. But is that our business? You can’t give people freedom they have to earn it. They have to take it.

If we get involved we better have a plan and people we already work with on the inside.

Anyways, if republicans get us into another war just remember democrats mind our own business.

 

[Penelope]

Trump white house concerned about Iran media when he non stops bashes ours. Are you kidding. Trump slapped new sanctions on Iran and Trump wants war to be a hero to Israel and SA.

My Iranian buddy says the Iranian people love trump and want him to overthrow that government. And I believe the Iranian people are civilized and smart enough to adopt democracy. But is that our business? You can’t give people freedom they have to earn it. They have to take it.

If we get involved we better have a plan and people we already work with on the inside.

Anyways, if republicans get us into another war just remember democrats mind our own business.

I'm sure they love the sanctions, and is your buddy a member of MEK which was a terrorist group till taken off in about 2013. Its none of our business, that I agree on.

 

[sealybobo]

Trump white house concerned about Iran media when he non stops bashes ours. Are you kidding. Trump slapped new sanctions on Iran and Trump wants war to be a hero to Israel and SA.

My Iranian buddy says the Iranian people love trump and want him to overthrow that government. And I believe the Iranian people are civilized and smart enough to adopt democracy. But is that our business? You can’t give people freedom they have to earn it. They have to take it.

If we get involved we better have a plan and people we already work with on the inside.

Anyways, if republicans get us into another war just remember democrats mind our own business.

I'm sure they love the sanctions, and is your buddy a member of MEK which was a terrorist group till taken off in about 2013. Its none of our business, that I agree on.

No these are just people sick of the Iranian government. Sort of like Cuban Americans didn’t like Fidel Castro

 

[Penelope]

Trump white house concerned about Iran media when he non stops bashes ours. Are you kidding. Trump slapped new sanctions on Iran and Trump wants war to be a hero to Israel and SA.

My Iranian buddy says the Iranian people love trump and want him to overthrow that government. And I believe the Iranian people are civilized and smart enough to adopt democracy. But is that our business? You can’t give people freedom they have to earn it. They have to take it.

If we get involved we better have a plan and people we already work with on the inside.

Anyways, if republicans get us into another war just remember democrats mind our own business.

I'm sure they love the sanctions, and is your buddy a member of MEK which was a terrorist group till taken off in about 2013. Its none of our business, that I agree on.

No these are just people sick of the Iranian government. Sort of like Cuban Americans didn’t like Fidel Castro

Actually these are the people who trashed our American Embassy in 1979 and held our American prisoners.

 

[sealybobo]

Trump white house concerned about Iran media when he non stops bashes ours. Are you kidding. Trump slapped new sanctions on Iran and Trump wants war to be a hero to Israel and SA.

My Iranian buddy says the Iranian people love trump and want him to overthrow that government. And I believe the Iranian people are civilized and smart enough to adopt democracy. But is that our business? You can’t give people freedom they have to earn it. They have to take it.

If we get involved we better have a plan and people we already work with on the inside.

Anyways, if republicans get us into another war just remember democrats mind our own business.

I'm sure they love the sanctions, and is your buddy a member of MEK which was a terrorist group till taken off in about 2013. Its none of our business, that I agree on.

No these are just people sick of the Iranian government. Sort of like Cuban Americans didn’t like Fidel Castro

Actually these are the people who trashed our American Embassy in 1979 and held our American prisoners.

Do you blame them? What were we doing?

So you’re saying you like the current Iranian leadership? I’m not arguing. Look what happened when we freed Iraqis. We were better off with saddam in charge

 

[Penelope]

Trump white house concerned about Iran media when he non stops bashes ours. Are you kidding. Trump slapped new sanctions on Iran and Trump wants war to be a hero to Israel and SA.

My Iranian buddy says the Iranian people love trump and want him to overthrow that government. And I believe the Iranian people are civilized and smart enough to adopt democracy. But is that our business? You can’t give people freedom they have to earn it. They have to take it.

If we get involved we better have a plan and people we already work with on the inside.

Anyways, if republicans get us into another war just remember democrats mind our own business.

I'm sure they love the sanctions, and is your buddy a member of MEK which was a terrorist group till taken off in about 2013. Its none of our business, that I agree on.

No these are just people sick of the Iranian government. Sort of like Cuban Americans didn’t like Fidel Castro

Actually these are the people who trashed our American Embassy in 1979 and held our American prisoners.

Do you blame them? What were we doing?

So you’re saying you like the current Iranian leadership? I’m not arguing. Look what happened when we freed Iraqis. We were better off with saddam in charge

We were better off with Saddam and we have no right interfering in countries, but Israel and SA don't see it that way. Our coups never turn out.

 

[Penelope]

We are doing the same to iran, with our sanctions. Sanction people , not the country.

 

[irosie91]

My Iranian buddy says the Iranian people love trump and want him to overthrow that government. And I believe the Iranian people are civilized and smart enough to adopt democracy. But is that our business? You can’t give people freedom they have to earn it. They have to take it.

If we get involved we better have a plan and people we already work with on the inside.

Anyways, if republicans get us into another war just remember democrats mind our own business.

I'm sure they love the sanctions, and is your buddy a member of MEK which was a terrorist group till taken off in about 2013. Its none of our business, that I agree on.

No these are just people sick of the Iranian government. Sort of like Cuban Americans didn’t like Fidel Castro

Actually these are the people who trashed our American Embassy in 1979 and held our American prisoners.

Do you blame them? What were we doing?

So you’re saying you like the current Iranian leadership? I’m not arguing. Look what happened when we freed Iraqis. We were better off with saddam in charge

We were better off with Saddam and we have no right interfering in countries, but Israel and SA don't see it that way. Our coups never turn out.

Penny dear-----how LONG has it been that Israel and Saudi
Arabia have been controlling the USA. ----approximately--in
years

 

[irosie91]

I'm sure they love the sanctions, and is your buddy a member of MEK which was a terrorist group till taken off in about 2013. Its none of our business, that I agree on.

No these are just people sick of the Iranian government. Sort of like Cuban Americans didn’t like Fidel Castro

Actually these are the people who trashed our American Embassy in 1979 and held our American prisoners.

Do you blame them? What were we doing?

So you’re saying you like the current Iranian leadership? I’m not arguing. Look what happened when we freed Iraqis. We were better off with saddam in charge

We were better off with Saddam and we have no right interfering in countries, but Israel and SA don't see it that way. Our coups never turn out.

Penny dear-----how LONG has it been that Israel and Saudi
Arabia have been controlling the USA. ----approximately--in
years

bobo----penny will be responding soon

 

[sealybobo]

No these are just people sick of the Iranian government. Sort of like Cuban Americans didn’t like Fidel Castro

Actually these are the people who trashed our American Embassy in 1979 and held our American prisoners.

Do you blame them? What were we doing?

So you’re saying you like the current Iranian leadership? I’m not arguing. Look what happened when we freed Iraqis. We were better off with saddam in charge

We were better off with Saddam and we have no right interfering in countries, but Israel and SA don't see it that way. Our coups never turn out.

Penny dear-----how LONG has it been that Israel and Saudi
Arabia have been controlling the USA. ----approximately--in
years

bobo----penny will be responding soon

Seems rather obvious. Churches are a scam, politicians are corrupt, big business and the rich control everything. Oil companies, media giants, Hollywood, defense companies. Doesn't surprise me that Israel is a major influencer in our politics.

 

[irosie91]

Israel controls the churches too? SHEEEEESH-----did Jesus do that?

 

[sealybobo]

Israel controls the churches too? SHEEEEESH-----did Jesus do that?

Who do you think invented Christianity? Jesus was a jew for god sakes!!!

So the 11 who spread the word were Jews too. So they came up with a religion for non jews. Big business.

Think about what it takes to become a Jew. And Jews are not interested in recruiting gentiles right? So Christianity is a spinoff. And look how easy it is to become a Christian. Do you believe? Yes. Then you are in. Oh yea, you got to get dunked in water. Done!

 

[irosie91]

Israel controls the churches too? SHEEEEESH-----did Jesus do that?

Who do you think invented Christianity? Jesus was a jew for god sakes!!!

So the 11 who spread the word were Jews too. So they came up with a religion for non jews. Big business.

Think about what it takes to become a Jew. And Jews are not interested in recruiting gentiles right? So Christianity is a spinoff. And look how easy it is to become a Christian. Do you believe? Yes. Then you are in. Oh yea, you got to get dunked in water. Done!

Jesus did not invent Christianity-----he had NO IDEA and is still spinning
in his grave -----or up there
.