‘Fight against darkness’: Foreign Ministry appears to back Iranian protests |
A social media account run by the Foreign Ministry appeared to express support on Thursday for the mass cost-of-living protests in Iran, even as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refrained from publicly commenting.
A post on the Foreign Ministry’s Farsi-language account displayed a cartoon featuring a lion and sun — symbols that were featured on the Iranian flag until the 1979 Islamic Revolution — with the lion’s paw resting on an hourglass. At the bottom of the hourglass is the emblem on Iran’s current flag.
“The rise of Iranian lions and lionesses to fight against darkness,” read the post in Farsi. “Light triumphs over darkness.”
The growing demonstrations, focused on the cost of living and Iran’s ailing currency, are spreading across the country, and saw at least six people killed on Thursday.
Another post published by the Foreign Ministry’s Farsi account earlier on Thursday featured a cartoon image of Iran’s leaders panicking in the face of protesters. The caption, in Farsi, read, “The destruction calendar they had set for Israel has now been set for themselves.”
This sentiment was echoed by Science and Technology Minister Gila Gamliel, who posted a video in support of the protests and predicted that they would lead to the downfall of the regime.
خیزش شیرمردان و شیرزنان ایرانی برای نبرد با تاریکی.
نور بر تاریکی پیروز است. pic.twitter.com/oyz4qpHdpf
— اسرائیل به فارسی (@IsraelPersian) January 1, 2026
“Your protests, by women and men, young people and students, mothers and fathers, are justified,” she said in English. “The regime is weakening every day, and these are its final moments.”
On Monday, as protests in Iran entered their second day, Gamliel had posted a........