Arash Azizi

The protests have led already to the most brutal response Iran has shown since the 1980s.

First of all, the regime has never been so diplomatically isolated and so troubled at home.

It has lost its allies in the region and beyond.

At home, it is just failing to pass basic tests of competence.

So the regime is really more distressed than it's ever been.

At the same time, people of Iran have been sort of angrier than they've ever been.

But this shows itself in the protests having the most sort of insurrectionary character compared to the previous ones.

It is united in its demands.

It wants the regime to step down.

It wants some sort of a democratic institution to replace it.

It wants democracy instead of the regime rule.

But unfortunately, this has not reflected itself well.

in a united front politically.

It needs organization and it needs unity if it is to win.

There has been heightened conflicts inside the ruling elites in Iran.

And all of this meant that in December, when the protests began, the Iranian regime was panicked, unprepared.

and really unable to do anything about it and unable to bring the protests to any sort of a quick end.

And that explains where we are today.

The fall of Maduro was important because the regime lost its most important global ally.

I feel like some things are being said to try to trigger us, and people should not take the bait.