Abbas Amanat

Every Iranian, virtually every Iranian that has education and education in the sense that has gone through

the high schools and universities knows how to use the WhatsApp.

Yes, hatred of the policies of the regime, of isolation.

That's a huge point that you hear a great deal about.

We don't want to be isolated.

We don't want to be humiliated.

Iran is not about this miserable regime that is ruling over us.

We have a great culture.

So there's a sense of pride here.

in their own culture, some of it Islamic, some of it pre-Islamic.

So there's a huge sense of pride in that.

And they see that they cannot communicate with the outside world.

They want to travel abroad, which they do.

I mean, for one thing, the Iranian regime never actually

for majority of the population.

Never put restrictions, it's not like Soviet Union where you have to have a, you used to have a permission to move from one place to another.

And then of course,

The Islamic regime since 1979 basically chased away or destroyed the old middle class.

That's my generation, basically.

My parents' generation.