Hot pursuit: Trump tells Iran's mullahs to get their dirty mitts off the protestors
President Trump is not letting Iran's mullahs off easy.
Following the spectacular rubout of Iranian terrorist chieftain Qassem Soleimani and the blunderous events in Iran that followed, Trump is now cheering, hard, for Iran's student protestors.
To the leaders of Iran - DO NOT KILL YOUR PROTESTERS. Thousands have already been killed or imprisoned by you, and the World is watching. More importantly, the USA is watching. Turn your internet back on and let reporters roam free! Stop the killing of your great Iranian people!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2020
The demise of the terrorist mastermind, and then the series of wretched events -- funeral stampede, passenger jet full of Iranians and Iranian exiles shot down, pretty well sent out one message: That the mullahs are losing their grip. Sure, they can probably find some terrorist to replace Soleimani, but they picked an old guy, not a vicious young fanatic out to prove himself, and they're paranoid as heck among themselves, given that someone on the inside ratted out Soleimani's positions so the U.S hellfires could get a bead on him. Bottom line, the mullahs are out their evil genius. They're also exposed as losing control, what with the funeral mess and the airline shootdown.
In that scenario, people inside Iran know they can probably get away with stuff. Hence the protests. I took a trip to my old friend and classmate Borzou Daragahi's Twitter feed for a glimpse of how strongly the winds are blowing and he had a huge array of videos - a sampling:
Wow: “[Qassem] Soleimani is a murderer; his leader (Khamenei) is a traitor,” they chant at Sharif University in Tehran, Iran pic.twitter.com/aqPJJcqJva
— Borzou Daragahi рџ–Љрџ—’ (@borzou) January 11, 2020
Extraordinary footage, posted by famed film director Jafar Panahi, captures confrontation between regime enforcers and students in Tehran tonight pic.twitter.com/e8SVF2b6md
— Borzou Daragahi рџ–Љрџ—’ (@borzou) January 11, 2020
Breaking: Video purports to show small gathering of protesters gathering in Tehran’s iconic Azadi Square, chanting slogans against “Rahbar” supreme leader Ali Khamenei: “Our shame, our decrepit leader.” pic.twitter.com/iZHKBGHMQG
— Borzou Daragahi рџ–Љрџ—’ (@borzou) January 12, 2020
Small protest seen in Iranian city of Qazvin’s Sabze Square pic.twitter.com/DiVMlfB2H4
— Borzou Daragahi рџ–Љрџ—’ (@borzou) January 12, 2020
Video protests to show protest tonight in Iranian eastern city of Mashhad. Numbers still too small to pose a threat to regime pic.twitter.com/WSN6aaIAPS
— Borzou Daragahi рџ–Љрџ—’ (@borzou) January 12, 2020
Protest tonight in Iran city of Shiraz. Impressive to see so many women, but without greater numbers regime can easily handle them pic.twitter.com/w48A2CSmuz
— Borzou Daragahi рџ–Љрџ—’ (@borzou) January 12, 2020
His own point of view is on the left, so I can't agree with his anti-Trump take on things, but he's on target at noticing what's important in the Iranian protests - women, sizes, unusual cities etc.
The real game changer, though, is in this tweet.
Student protesters at Tehran’s Beheshti University take pains to avoid trampling on US and Israeli flags painted on entrance walkway pic.twitter.com/mqqzT0D9gK
— Borzou Daragahi рџ–Љрџ—’ (@borzou) January 12, 2020
The mullah minions tried to entice the students to stomp on the U.S. and Israeli flags, scribbled out on the asphalt and they wouldn't bite.
It sounds like they're pretty darn happy with Trump standing up for them, in stark contrast with President Obama, who, in 2009, resolutely refused to do what Trump did. This is no Eurotrash hate-America crowd. When your back's to the wall, you embrace those who stand up for you. In this regard, Obama failed to understand the times he was living in. He just wanted his treaty and the claps and praise from Europe as a result.
Trump is different. He may or may not have an effect on the mullah behavior, as the mullahs know full well what a threat to their grip on power these protests are, but the students are going to notice and they're going to feel courage. As for the mullahs, Soleimani's killing was a game changer for them. They're now on notice that the usual rules don't apply. That leaves them sailing a narrow passage betweet the Scylla of student protests that threaten their regime, and displeasing Trump, who has a funny way of raining some devastating death on them when they least expect it. He's not bothered by the fetters of the left wherever it may be.
Hot pursuit, they call it. All good generals do it. Right now, Trump's trapped the mullahs into a weak spot and instead of pull back, he's pushing down even harder. And he may just get results. Leadership, they call it.
Image credit: Twitter screen shot