Patterico's Pontifications

10/3/2022

Iran’s Compulsory Hijab is Like The Berlin Wall And The People Are Tearing It Down

Filed under: General — Dana @ 10:25 am



[guest post by Dana]

Masih Alinejad was on Bill Maher’s show this weekend likening compulsory hijab to the Berlin Wall:

Here is what Iran’s Khamenei said about the ongoing protests in a fractured Iran. Unsurprisingly, he blamed the usual suspects for the civil unrest because he is a lunatic. But I think a worried one too:

“I say frankly that these incidents were designed by America, the fake Zionist regime, those who are on their payroll and some traitorous Iranians abroad who helped them. Their main problem is with a strong and independent Iran and the progress of the country,” Khamenei said in a speech Monday.

He said Amini’s death “broke our hearts,” but the reaction of the protesters before the investigation was completed was not normal.

“They made the streets unsafe, burned Qurans, removed hijab from veiled women’s heads, set fire to mosques and people’s cars,” Khamenei said.

He defended the Iranian police and the Basij paramilitary militia for cracking down on the protests. “If it wasn’t for this young girl, they would have created another excuse to create insecurity and riots in the country,” Khamenei added, referring to the U.S. and Israel.

He said that the fact the U.S. provided internet services to the demonstrators so that they can communicate easily is proof that “there is a foreign hand behind these events.” He was referring to the U.S. move to ease some sanctions to allow tech companies to expand internet access in the country.

This as the negotiations between the U.S. and Iran have hit a wall:

Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on Wednesday said that talks were “at a stage where there are just a couple of issues remaining on the table, but which are very significant and important.”

“The issue of guarantees is very important to us,” Amir-Abdollahian said. “The American side has taken some steps towards giving us guarantees. We just need these guarantees to become a little bit more complete.”

[Darrell] Issa said the outstanding issues center around sanctions that target Iran’s terrorism enterprise.

“They want concessions as to their basic sanctions for being a terrorist state, and it’s a bridge that neither Republicans nor Democrats will allow them to cross,” said Issa.

Also, the timing of trying to come to a deal with Iran couldn’t come at a worse time:

A senior congressional source familiar with the briefing told the Free Beacon that negotiations should be shut down as a result of Iran’s crackdown on anti-regime protests, which are sweeping the country.

“In diplomacy as in business, the side that wants a deal will find their negotiating position only gets weaker and their number of concessions just keep piling up,” the source said. “I can’t think of a worse time to negotiate with the regime than when it’s mowing down its people in the streets.”

Along those same lines: “We should take a cue from the protestors in the streets: a regime that so easily kills women isn’t one the United States can do business with.”

–Dana

25 Responses to “Iran’s Compulsory Hijab is Like The Berlin Wall And The People Are Tearing It Down”

  1. Hello. I want to keep the issue of what’s happening in the streets of Iran on the front burner, lest it dies with a whimper, and the thugs win yet again. Fighting for freedom like these men and women are doing is literally risking life and limb every moment they are agitating on the streets. I want to recognize that because it is a danger that I have never known, and have such great admiration and respect for their willingness to die for what they believe.

    Dana (1225fc) — 10/3/2022 @ 10:28 am

  2. It’s probably unrealistic, but how awesome would it be to dislodge these mullahs…and then Putin too. Going back to the shah, Iran was fairly normal before being dragged into this theocratic abyss. The people there deserve better. In authoritarian societies these protests generally don’t end well, but it’s nice to see some pushback.

    AJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 10/3/2022 @ 12:55 pm

  3. Everyone watched in 2011, too, during the “Arab Spring”

    But evil people and governments got involved in the chaos. It got only half way.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 10/3/2022 @ 1:33 pm

  4. Sometimes, something like this:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colour_revolution

    …works.

    The government of Communist China nearly got overthrown twice: in 1976 and in 1989. In Russia in 1917. In Germany in 1918.

    China, and Saudi Arabia , among others, are really scared of “color revolutions” regardless of how much of a danger it really is to them.

    It’s more of a danger to the regime if it get some help from outside, like it di in Ukraine in 2014. Or Iran, for that matter, in 1953.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 10/3/2022 @ 1:38 pm

  5. To be fair, they have abortion laws more liberal than some US states.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 10/3/2022 @ 2:25 pm

  6. The day will come when they have a nuke. Then the day will come when Israel knows they have a nuke. After that every day will be Tuesday in Iran.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 10/3/2022 @ 2:28 pm

  7. Iran Crisis Update, October 2, 2022

    The continued public absence of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei may be hindering regime officials’ efforts to develop a coherent response to the ongoing, anti-regime protests. Khamenei has not addressed the protests nor made a public appearance since September 21, possibly due to his reportedly worsening health. An unidentified Iranian official told Reuters that intra-regime disagreements over supreme leader succession and protest management are dividing the regime elite. This division suggests that Khamenei is not playing his usual role of cohering the regime during a crisis.
    …….
    Anti-regime outlet IranWire has published reports claiming that security leaders have disagreed over how to respond to the protests, further indicating that they may lack guidance from the supreme leader.……..

    Khamenei’s absence may be emboldening segments of the clerical establishment, especially in Qom, to criticize and pressure the regime more openly. Two senior clerics—Ayatollah Mustafa Mohaghegh Damad and Ayatollah Asadollah Bayat Zanjani—issued statements on September 17, criticizing state security services for the death of Mahsa Amini. Ayatollah Hossein Nouri Hamedani called on the regime to listen to the people’s grievances on September 25. Persian-language media outlet Zeitoon published a statement allegedly from students and teachers at the Tehran, Mashhad, and Qom seminaries on September 30, condemning Khamenei and the regime crackdown on the protests.
    ……..
    Anti-regime protests decreased in number across Iran but were significantly more violent—specifically in Tehran—on October 2. CTP (the Critical Threats Project at the American Enterprise Institute) assesses with moderate-to-high confidence that demonstrations occurred in at least 13 Iranian cities in 10 different provinces. Iranian social media users documented unrest in the following locations, the majority of which occurred on or in the vicinity of university campuses. ……..

    Regime security forces brutally suppressed anti-regime protests at the Sharif University of Technology in Tehran on October 2. Sharif University students reported that security personnel barricaded, shot, and arrested student protestors. Some social media users reported that Basij members seized students’ cellphones and checked for footage or photographs of protests. Basijis allegedly beat students who possessed documentation of protests on their personal devices. Students were still able to circulate footage of protests—and ensuing violence—to Twitter accounts reporting on ongoing demonstrations. ……..
    ……..
    The regime could escalate significantly against the protesters in Najaf Abad if they expand further. The IRGC Ground Forces 8th Najaf-e Ashraf Armored Division is headquartered around the town’s periphery. The IRGC is likely sensitive to instability particularly in Najaf Abad given the location of this armored division‘s headquarters. …….

    Bolding in original. Footnotes omitted.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 10/3/2022 @ 2:35 pm

  8. Anti-regime outlet IranWire has published reports claiming that security leaders have disagreed over how to respond to the protests, further indicating that they may lack guidance from the supreme leader.……..

    If they crack down hard, and the regime falls, they’ll be up against a wall PDQ. Of course they might be there anyway. Not shooting down crowds did not save the Shah’s people.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 10/3/2022 @ 4:09 pm

  9. Know the players on the field:

    https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/darrell_issa/400196

    DCSCA (d34ab5) — 10/3/2022 @ 4:15 pm

  10. Thanks for the update, Dana. Here’s to the protesters.
    I’m concerned that Biden is doing what Obama did, that is, soft-pedal Iranian belligerence and terrorist behavior in order to cut a deal, which last time culminated in pallets of cash in exchange for American hostages.
    Speaking of hostages, Iran is currently holding five American citizens behind bars, and they nearly always target dual citizens. I don’t know why Biden is negotiating with the theocracy while Americans are imprisoned there.

    Paul Montagu (753b42) — 10/3/2022 @ 4:22 pm

  11. @2. It’s probably unrealistic, but how awesome would it be to dislodge these mullahs…

    Eisenhower approves coup in Iran, Aug. 19, 1953

    Reversing earlier U.S. policy, President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorized the CIA to instigate a coup d’ĂŠtat in Tehran that led to the overthrow of Iranian Prime Minister Mohammed Mosaddeq and his government on this day in 1953. The political, economic and social consequences of Mosaddeq’s removal from power has had a profound impact on Iran-U.S. relations — one which manifests itself in the region to this day.

    A previously excised section of an internal CIA history titled “The Battle for Iran“ released in 2013, reads: “The military coup that overthrew Mosaddeq and his National Front cabinet was carried out under CIA direction as an act of U.S. foreign policy, conceived and approved at the highest levels of government.”

    The documents, published on the agency’s archival website under freedom of information protocols, describe in detail how the United States — with British help — engineered the coup, codenamed TPAJAX by the CIA and Operation Boot by Britain’s MI6. Anthony Eden, the British foreign secretary, regarded Mosaddeq as a threat to Western strategic and economic interests after the Iranian leader nationalized the British Anglo-Iranian Oil Co., known today as BP. CIA supporters maintain that the coup was strategically necessary. Critics have asserted that the scheme was illegal, paranoid and immoral. In 2000, Madeleine Albright, the secretary of state, noted that the “Eisenhower administration believed its actions were justified for strategic reasons.” But, she added, “the coup was clearly a setback for Iran’s political development and it is easy to see now why many Iranians continue to resent this intervention by America.”

    Mosaddeq’s overthrow consolidated the rule of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the shah of Iran, for the next 26 years until he in turn was toppled by the 1979 Iranian Islamic revolution. Strategically, it was aimed at making sure the Iranian monarchy would safeguard the West’s oil interests in the country.

    After the coup, some of Mosaddeq’s former associates and supporters were tried, imprisoned and tortured. On Oct. 29, 1953, Hossein Fatemi, Mosaddeq’s minister of foreign affairs, was executed by a firing squad under the orders of the shah’s military court.

    On Dec. 21, 1953, Mosaddeq was sentenced to three years’ solitary confinement in a military prison. On hearing of his sentence, Mosaddeq said: “The verdict of this court has increased my historical glories. I am extremely grateful you convicted me. Truly tonight the Iranian nation understood the meaning of constitutionalism.” He remained under house arrest at his residence in Ahmadabad until his death on March 5, 1967 at the age of 84.

    The American-inspired overthrow of Mosaddeq served as a rallying point for anti-U.S. protests during the revolutionary tumult in 1979; to this day, he remains one of the most popular figures in Iranian history. Iran’s theocratic regime often compares the tension over the country’s current nuclear program to that of the abortive oil nationalization scheme promulgated under Mosaddeq.

    https://www.politico.com/story/2018/08/19/eisenhower-green-lights-coup-in-iran-aug-19-1953-788012

    There’s a lot of Putin in you after all, eh, Agarn. 😉

    DCSCA (d34ab5) — 10/3/2022 @ 4:22 pm

  12. Iran Crisis Update, October 3
    ……..
    Anti-regime protests increased in number on October 3. CTP assesses with moderate-to-high confidence that demonstrations occurred in at least 18 Iranian cities in 16 different provinces. Iranian social media users documented unrest in the following locations, all of which occurred on or in the vicinity of university campuses:

    Iranian university students and faculty staged widespread demonstrations following the regime’s brutal crackdown on Sharif University protestors on October 2. ……..Sharif University’s Students Basij Organization—which is an extension of the Iranian security services—released a statement condemning the regime’s response to October 2 protests, signaling the gravity of clashes between protestors and security forces…….The Iranian Teacher’s Trade Association released a statement urging all teachers and students to boycott classes and join nationwide strikes and protests on October 3. Footage circulating on social media suggests that university students are continuing to organize and attend protests, despite reports of heavy security presence in major Iranian university campuses. ………Anti-regime demonstrations at Sharif and Shahid Beheshti Universities may particularly concern the regime given the importance of these institutions to Iranian nuclear proliferation and military efforts.

    Iranian high school girls are increasingly participating in protests throughout Iran. Social media users circulated footage of Iranian highschoolers purportedly chanting anti-regime slogans and destroying pictures of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The regime will likely face difficult decisions if young people continue to demonstrate in this fashion.
    ………

    Bolding in original. Footnotes omitted.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 10/3/2022 @ 4:24 pm

  13. “Shah! Shah! Ayatollah so!” – Robin Williams

    DCSCA (d34ab5) — 10/3/2022 @ 4:26 pm

  14. @6

    Don’t underestimate Israel’s willingness to preemptively take out Iran now that the Saudis have given them permission to fly over their airspace.

    Horatio (33e227) — 10/3/2022 @ 4:28 pm

  15. The United States Overthrew Iran’s Last Democratic Leader

    Despite a campaign of historical revisionism in Washington, the archival record makes clear that the U.S. government was the key actor in the 1953 coup that ousted Mohammad Mosaddeq—not the Iranian clergy.

    While U.S. President Harry Truman encouraged British Prime Ministers Clement Attlee and Winston Churchill to compromise with Mosaddeq, even hosting the Iranian premier in Washington in October 1951, the United States eventually lost patience as Anglo-Iranian negotiations failed. Fearing that continuing crisis and instability in Iran would lead to a takeover by Iran’s communist Tudeh Party, the newly elected President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorized the CIA to topple Mosaddeq in 1953.

    https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/10/30/the-united-states-overthrew-irans-last-democratic-leader/

    “It’s not personal, Sonny. It’s strictly business.” – Michael Corleone [Al Pacino] ‘The Godfather’ 1972

    DCSCA (d34ab5) — 10/3/2022 @ 4:36 pm

  16. Don’t underestimate Israel’s willingness to preemptively take out Iran now that the Saudis have given them permission to fly over their airspace.

    Horatio (33e227) — 10/3/2022 @ 4:28 pm

    I really doubt the agreement to allow Israeli airlines to overfly Saudi Arabia applies to Israeli military aircraft.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 10/3/2022 @ 5:11 pm

  17. OT; Breaking News- North Korea fires ballistic missile that flew over Japan

    SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea on Tuesday fired a ballistic missile over Japan, its neighbors said, escalating tests of weapons designed to strike key targets in regional U.S. allies amid stalled nuclear diplomacy. The Japanese prime minister’s office said at least one missile fired from North Korea flew over Japan and was believed to have landed into the Pacific Ocean. -AP.com

    DCSCA (9a401a) — 10/3/2022 @ 5:26 pm

  18. “I don’t know why Biden is negotiating with the theocracy while Americans are imprisoned there.”

    Because he doesn’t know up from down, FFS…

    https://twitter.com/greg_price11/status/1577018859134951426?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1577018859134951426%7Ctwgr%5E3a70716c6d905d78b02076a7a2e81b3c286ea86b%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fredstate.com%2Fbonchie%2F2022%2F10%2F03%2Fthings-go-way-off-the-rails-during-joe-bidens-trip-to-puerto-rico-n636942

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 10/3/2022 @ 5:29 pm

  19. Israel attacking Iran isn’t as easy as it sounds. For one thing, they would need USAF air tankers to refuel their aircraft, and they are currently in short supply.

    …….Israel has the capability (to attack Iran), the core military problem is distance. Iran is more than 1,000 kilometres from Israel and at the limits of the IAF’s capability. The IAF would need to support this attack with air to air refuelling tankers, tankers which are vulnerable to attack adding risk to the operation. Israeli air planners would need to consider trade offs for refuelling including how to avoid detection and recovery plans. One way of mitigating this problem would be by mounting, or supporting, the operation from countries closer to Iran in the Gulf States.

    Israel would have to choose which route to attack from. The shortest way from Israel to Iran goes through Jordan and Iraq and this seems the most likely route from a military perspective. Politically, however, it may tighten the alignment of Arab nations against Israel.

    Another path requires crossing Saudi Arabia. If Iran tries to gain a nuclear weapon, Saudi Arabia might allow Israeli aircraft to fly over its territory giving Israel more military options. Such cooperation, however, would likely escalate the situation and push the region into a greater crisis.

    In both scenarios, Iran might strike back at Gulf Arab states accusing them of assisting Israel. Iran’s response could involve launching cruise missiles and armed drones that can target Arab states, including critical sites such as Saudi oil infrastructure or escalating hybrid warfare efforts by using pro Iranian militias in Syria and Iraq. Iran has already demonstrated how damaging such attacks could be; On 14 September 2019 cruise missiles and drones caused vast damage to Saudi oil facilities. There are wider risks of escalation as such a move could draw the United States in conflict.

    The present leadership of the United States, however, have demonstrated that they do not want to be drawn into a conflict in the Middle East. ……

    Source

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 10/3/2022 @ 5:42 pm

  20. President Biden today:

    The U.S. will take “further action” against “perpetrators of violence against peaceful protesters” in Iran, President Joe Biden said on Monday.

    “I remain gravely concerned about reports of the intensifying violent crackdown on peaceful protesters in Iran, including students and women, who are demanding their equal rights and basic human dignity,” Biden said in a statement issued by the White House.

    No word on what that “further action” would include.

    Dana (1225fc) — 10/3/2022 @ 10:22 pm

  21. President Biden today:

    Biden claims ‘I was sort of raised in the Puerto Rican community’ in Delaware

    President Biden told an audience in Puerto Rico Monday that “I was sort of raised in the Puerto Rican community at home, politically” — despite the fact that only about 2,000 people of Puerto Rican ancestry lived in Delaware when he was launching his career five decades ago.

    https://nypost.com/2022/10/03/biden-claims-he-was-raised-in-the-puerto-rican-community/

    … where he sorta learned them all to be drivin’ 18 wheelers, sorta joined the Jets and sorta dated Rita Morano.

    “I have no mind. I am the village idiot.” – Doc [Ned Glass] ‘West Side Story’ 1961

    DCSCA (066c1a) — 10/4/2022 @ 2:33 am

  22. I know for a fact that people in Iran have found VPN workarounds to the regime’s Internet blocks.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 10/4/2022 @ 2:28 pm

  23. Iran Crisis Update, October 4
    ……..
    Anti-regime protests occurred in at least 17 cities in 14 provinces on October 4. CTP assesses with moderate-to-high confidence that protests occurred in the following locations:
    ……..
    Senior Iranian political and security officials overwhelmingly echoed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s talking points on the protests. …….These individuals all accused the US and Israel of coopting and stoking the protests against the regime—in line with Khamenei’s remarks from October 3. They framed the protesters as rioters and seditionists. ( Armed Forces General Staff Chief Major General Mohammad Bagheri), (Interior Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi), and (Expediency Discernment Council Chairman Sadegh Amoli Larijani) praised the state security services and framed them as heroes and victims of the protests. All these officials expressed little to no sympathy for the protesters and their grievances—a departure from the somewhat more conciliatory tone that Bagheri and IRGC Commander Major General Hossein Salami have been using.

    Anti-regime militant group Jaish al Adl vowed to retaliate against the regime for killing protesters in Sistan and Baluchistan Province. ……The IRGC Intelligence Organization released a statement on October 2 vowing to avenge the security forces personnel who died in the deadly clashes in Zahedan. The IRGC Intelligence Organization condemned “separatist groups” in the statement, alluding to Jaish al Adl. Intelligence and Security Minister Esmail Khatib threatened on October 2 to retaliate against the “terrorists” responsible for the clashes as well.

    Lebanese Hezbollah (LH) promoted a conspiracy theory alleging Mahsa Amini committed suicide to trigger civil unrest in Iran. ……

    Bolding in original. Footnotes omitted.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 10/4/2022 @ 5:47 pm

  24. If I were Ayatollah, I would have scotched the whole hijab thing decades ago. I would have issued a fatwa that only attractive women must wear the hijab. Ugly women do not need to. Trust me, very few women in Iran would appear in public without a hijab after that.

    nk (0cd826) — 10/4/2022 @ 6:07 pm

  25. Ukraine Official Asks Elon Musk for Starlink Stations Amid Russian Invasion

    In an attempt to provide the country access to satellite internet, Ukraine’s Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov on Saturday asked Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk to provide Starlink stations, which are internet-beaming satellites launched by SpaceX, as the country continues to face an invasion by Russian forces.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/ukraine-official-asks-elon-musk-for-starlink-stations-amid-russian-invasion/ar-AAUlyDQ

    And now a Ukraine diplomat; a representative of the Moran mob, tells him to ‘fvck off.’

    Memo to Elon: Piss on the ungrateful crooks; pull the damn plug.

    DCSCA (aea2e1) — 10/4/2022 @ 6:11 pm


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