Rallies in Iran: protest potential is much higher and stronger than attempts to destroy it, – expert

Massive protests continue to rage in Iran. The population of the country continues to take to the streets of cities. The rallies did not stop and the authorities could not stifle these protests, could not stop their growth by force. Ihor Semyvolos, director of the Center for Middle East Studies, spoke about this on the air of the FREEDOM TV channel.

He said that the country wants to introduce the death penalty against the protesters.

“This, of course, is an extremely tough measure that the government and the regime are taking. Previously, the use of the death penalty was significantly limited to certain categories of crimes. And if we are talking about political crimes, then the death penalty was not applied to a greater extent,” the expert explained.

According to him, now there are attempts, on the one hand, to stop the protests with terror, and on the other hand, negotiations are underway with moderate Islamists who are trying to intercept the protest agenda.

Semivolos noted that there are currently not enough resources in Iran to actually use significant force to suppress the protests. And besides, the economic situation of the country is deteriorating.

“And this means that sooner or later broad sections of the population will join the protests, they are dissatisfied with the economic situation. That is, the protest potential is much higher and stronger than attempts to destroy it. And moreover, Iran very clearly shows the effect of violence when the use of violence has the opposite effect. When the attempts of the authorities to stop the protests lead to new waves and other people are already involved in these processes,” said the guest on the air.

He predicts that based on the apparent pace of development of the Iranian protest, it can be assumed that next year there will be an obvious and full-fledged crisis of power.

“And it is quite possible that the regime will be transformed. It is extremely difficult now to say how and what the Islamic regime will turn into. This movement can take place in different directions, both in the directions of complete totalitarianism and the creation of a full-fledged fascism, a single regime. Or along the path of the collapse of Islamic rule. And here there is every reason to believe that next year Iran will face serious shocks. And, perhaps, we will no longer see such a country as the Islamic Republic of Iran, and simply the Republic of Iran will appear on the world map or the monarchy will return,” summed up Semyvolos.