Holly Dagres

What options do they have at this point?

Okay, but are you saying that Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader, could be betrayed by the Revolutionary Guard who were supposed to take orders from him?

I think for a lot of us who've been watching Iran for a long time, that's almost unthinkable.

One, I think, confusing element for Americans and non-Iranians or people outside of Iran is that we're hearing so much about Gen Z and about how much of the country is turning away from the vision of the Islamic Republic.

But at the same time, someone is doing the shooting in the security forces.

Who's actually the ones taking up the guns and shooting these protesters, despite the fact that the regime has essentially more or less failed to

the entire country, regardless of their ideological beliefs.

Economics affect everyone.

So where are they finding this base of support?

That's significant, though.

Since the taping of these interviews on January 14th, 2026, the protests in Iran have mostly been ended by the Islamic Republic.

The death toll is in the thousands and continuing to rise.

President Donald Trump has expressed support for the Iranian protesters and has threatened the Iranian government.

On January 9th, he warned the Islamic Republic to not kill demonstrators, saying, I tell the Iranian leaders, you better not start shooting because we'll start shooting too.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei responded by calling President Trump a criminal.

And the U.S.

military has sent an aircraft carrier to the Middle East, bringing up more questions about how the U.S.

intends to engage.

I'm reminded of 2009 in that President Obama made some hints or encouragement to the Iranian protesters then and then ended up with a kind of nuclear deal.

President Trump has made even more severe threats.