{"id":8452,"date":"2026-01-10T17:38:22","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T23:38:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/?p=8452"},"modified":"2026-01-13T17:01:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T23:01:17","slug":"8452","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/2026\/01\/10\/8452\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201c’There wasn’t even time for CPR’: Iran medics describe hospitals overwhelmed with dead and injured protesters,\u201d<\/a> BBC, 1-10-26.\u00a0 I’ve heard that much more than 2,000 have been killed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIran Death Toll Rises as Crackdown Intensifies,\u201d<\/a> WSJ, 1-10-26.\u00a0 There is no particular demand (i.e., better economy, women’s head coverings, water scarcity) but instead a call for the Regime to step down, to leave.\u00a0 The people have nothing to lose.\u00a0 They want freedom.<\/p>\n

\u201cIran\u2019s Hackers Warn Israel\u2019s Mossad\u2014We Have Hacked Your Phones,\u201d<\/a> Forbes, 1-10-26.\u00a0 “The mass protests in Iran are now lauded as the greatest domestic threat to the regime in decades. \u201cWhat began as protests against a failing economy has turned into a potential overthrow of Ali Khamenei\u2019s oppressive regime,\u201d the Daily Telegraph reports.”<\/p>\n

This blog has always had the focus of what the Regime says and does, and arguing that until Iran becomes “normal” that the Revolutionary impulse for Shia-Mahdi-based Islam will run off the rails at some point, besides being a danger for the region.\u00a0 So to run the few Pres. Trump stories and U.S. foreign policy is not directly the purpose of this blog.\u00a0 But here is one of those exceptions.\u00a0 “Trump says U.S. is ready to help Iranians get freedom,”<\/a> Politico, 1-10-26.\u00a0 BTW, this is an appropriate time to respond to allegations that will arise in the future, perhaps even years from now.\u00a0 You’ll remember the claims by a number of U.S. critics and certainly the ISI government, that the U.S. and U.K. overthrew PM Mosaddegh in 1953.\u00a0 These statements rarely take into account the Iran citizens and officials’ actions, basically asserting that a handful of CIA or UK agents could somehow control thousands of persons and beyond to the general population.\u00a0 Nor do those claims evaluate the Iranian people’s displeasure with Mosaddegh nor the appearances of his moving toward the USSR, and what that would mean.\u00a0 Well, here we are again, with the U.S. making threats that it would assist citizens being slaughtered and the Mossad claiming to assist the protesters (but saying they are not involved in Regime change, just acting to protect Israel).\u00a0 Please don’t take the position that the U.S. or Israel or anyone other than the Regime is responsible for influencing the people to protest and now revolt.\u00a0 Even the NYT today tells us that economics is what set this off, not Pres. Trump or anyone other than the Ayatollah and his henchmen.\u00a0 “Inside Iran\u2019s Protests: How a Plunging Currency Set Off Wide Unrest,”<\/a> NYT, 1-10-26.\u00a0 This is not a U.S. coup.<\/p>\n

\u201cIran’s exiled crown prince rises as a figure in protests, decades after leaving his homeland,\u201d<\/a> AP, 1-10-26.<\/p>\n

If you protest, parade, march, chant, you are targeted for death.\u00a0 (that\u2019s not what the Ayatollah said!\u00a0 but we knew from his history that he didn\u2019t mean it).\u00a0 \u201cProtesters and those aiding them will be tried on the charges of ‘waging war against God,’ a death penalty charge,\u201d<\/a> I24, 1-10-26.\u00a0 There’s another obvious point here–the Ayatollah and his cronies don’t speak for Allah, or for God.\u00a0 I know that God doesn’t order governments to do this to their citizens.<\/p>\n

\u201cProtests in Iran near 2-week mark as authorities intensify crackdown on demonstrators,\u201d<\/a> AP, 1-10-26.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201c’There wasn’t even time for CPR’: Iran medics describe hospitals overwhelmed with dead and injured protesters,\u201d BBC, 1-10-26.\u00a0 I’ve heard that much more than 2,000 have been killed. \u201cIran Death Toll Rises as Crackdown Intensifies,\u201d WSJ, 1-10-26.\u00a0 There is no particular demand (i.e., better economy, women’s head coverings, water scarcity) but instead a call for … <\/p>\n

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