Neither Shah Nor Supreme Leader: Can Iran's Theocracy Survive a Nation in Revolt? |
Iran is once again at a historic crossroads. As the country enters a new year, it does so not with celebration but with fire on the streets, rage in the bazaars, and defiance on university campuses. What began in late December as an economic protest in Tehran's Grand Bazaar has metastasized into a nationwide political uprising that now openly questions the survival of the clerical regime itself.
With inflation officially hovering around a staggering 52 percent, the Iranian economy is in freefall. The rial has collapsed, wages have been pulverized, and poverty has become the defining condition of daily life for millions. But to frame the current unrest merely as a cost-of-living crisis is to profoundly misunderstand what is unfolding. This is not simply an economic protest. It is a revolt against dictatorship in all its forms.
From Tehran to Shiraz, Isfahan to Kermanshah, Rasht to Khorramabad, the chants ringing through the streets tell their own unmistakable story. "Death to the dictator," "Death to Khamenei," "This year is the year of blood, Khamenei will be overthrown," and perhaps most telling of all, "Neither Shah nor Supreme Leader. Democracy and equality." These are not the slogans of a population seeking reform. They are the slogans of a people demanding an end to tyranny.
The regime's own media has inadvertently confirmed this reality. Fars News Agency, closely aligned with the Revolutionary Guards, admitted that the protests were being driven by organized groups chanting explicitly political slogans calling for the overthrow of the system. In a telling acknowledgement, it pointed to the influence of opposition leader Maryam Rajavi and........