Iran’s prosecutor general has blamed the ongoing protests in the country on a CIA operation, accusing the CIA of seeking help from exiled Iranians, and getting support from both the Israeli government and Saudi Arabia.
There is as yet no public proof that the US is behind the protests, though the narrative sells well within Iran because of the long history of Iran being subjected to foreign intervention, and the long US history of backing foreign “revolutions.”
The State Department has estimated Iran has arrested over 1,000 people related to the protests, condemning them in “strongest terms” and insisting the protesters have legitimate aspirations.
The State Department went on to say that the US has “ample authority” to hold Iranian officials accountable for any attempts to censor of commit violence against the protesters, saying that the demonstrators “will not be forgotten.”
These comments, and President Trump’s unusually loud endorsement of the Iranian protesters, is likely to add to the sense this is a US operation, though it may simply be a convenient opportunity to pick a fight with Iran, something President Trump has openly advocated for awhile.
The threat to hold Iran “accountable” seems to be a way for the State Department to shoehorn a threat of direct intervention against Iran into the narrative, and is in keeping with President Trump’s past promise to do something at the “appropriate” time.
The gall of Washington to be a constant barb like this in Iran’s side after the US Navy shot down one of their passenger airliners in the 1980s. Washington has no shame.
According to State: Iran supports Al-Qaeda, facilitated 9/11 and is responsible for most terrorism in the world, now they are mean to protesters?
Jeeze what’s next they hurt Nikki’s feelings?
Doesn’t surprise me that the morons on this site can’t see past there hatred of America for even an historic moment like this one to support the actual people who live in Iran that are risking it all including there lives to protest against a corrupt regime and a supreme leader that NEVER leaves power. You would think there would be post’s like I hope the Iranians have there voices heard or I feel for the people of Iran but, no just a bunch of enemy sympathizers spewing there propaganda as usual. So typical and then this forum wonders why it’s always the same people posting and never anyone new. It’s simple the narrative is biased and the stories are like preaching to the choir no room for growth just the same stale nonsense day in and day out. Lame.
I agree with you that we as a nation ought to support people who struggle against dictatorship or theocracy or both regardless of what our government does. Nevertheless it is important to try to find out what kind of governance the demonstrators themselves want because there are plenty of historical occasions which show that we may regret our support. Iran itself has provided such an example not too long ago.
I agree we’ve been burned before by uprisings that have led to worse conditions even in Iran that led to the Ayatollah becoming a supreme leader but, in this instance it’s the people who are chanting for his removal and are yearning for freedom of an oppressive regime. These people aren’t sympathetic to America or any other foreign nation, this is a cry for reform because they are the ones feeling the pain. It’s really simple you either support the people or the oppressive regime.
Personally, I’ve always supported the people. I’d love to see the Islamic Republic cease to exist.
Unfortunately, the entire point of US foreign policy vis a vis Iran since the early 1980s is to make damn sure the mullahs stay in power. If the US wanted the mullahs out of power, it would simply announce an end to all sanctions and let the Iranian people know that it’s the mullahs, not DC, keeping regular Iranians from subscribing to HBO, visiting Disney World, and shopping at the Apple Store.
I could careless who rules Iran. It is none of my business.
Good for you.
Which people and how many? Is that the B.S. you are repeating from watching propaganda tv media here in the states? You know absolutely nothing as to what is happening over there. Heck the Occupy Wall Street protests of 2010/2011 could have been interpreted as a revolution and a cry for reform from an outsiders perspective but in reality it was nothing. These protests in Iran will turn out to be the same.
I don’t recall the United States government killing the people protesting at the Occupy Wall street protests so please go spin your ignorant comparisons of a nation where people are free to speak there mind and an oppressive country where the citizens are killed for it. Next time think before you spew out your alternate facts and moronic talking points when it comes to the people of an oppressed society like Iran the people don’t have the luxury you take for granted some have already lost there freedom and lives not everyone gets to” Survive”.
Again, how do you know anyone has been killed in Iran? Are you repeating what you have been told by CNN? By the way, you do know that the entire Arab bloc of Sunni nations are one giant totalitarian dictatorship who do kill their citizens when protesting etc? Yet, you have never criticized them? Why is that? Is it because you haven’t been told to by the establishment?
And it doesn’t surprise me that you’re pretending to know what the hell you’re talking about. If we assume that the regime is as corrupt as you say (and I’m certainly willing to stipulate to that), then the bottom line is that neither you nor I know what is going on over there.
The protests might be real popular uprisings against the regime.
Or the regime itself might have drummed them up as an excuse for repression — an excuse that US interference will boost the plausibility of.
Or they might have been drummed up from outside — by, say, the Saudis — and good people acting in good faith could be getting killed in a clash that’s not really theirs and that they just got caught up in.
Yes Mr.Knapp I’m just the guy that gets under your skin because I point out the obvious which is this site is anything but Anti-war but all about anti-America. I’m not the one posting conspiracy theories and America is evil propaganda day in and day out with a so called journalist that re-writes other people’s stories or Trolls the internet for stories to spin that’s what y’all do. Everyone knows the person writing these biased stories hasn’t ever been to the majority of the or hasn’t even been to the warzones he writes about on a daily basis so save the you don’t know what the hell your talking about comments for yourselves. Real journalist actually go get the story they don’t spin other people’s stories. Facts. So delete this comment because you are the moderator or ban me if that makes you feel better. The truth hurts.
Don’t flatter yourself. You don’t get under my skin. The day people like you can make my toes stop tapping is the day I give up working as a moderator and add another musical instrument to the list of things I play badly to pass the time. Bass guitar, maybe.
I see you close with the implied claim that I delete/ban people for disagreeing with me. The problem with that implied claim is that the next time I do that will be the first time. The only thing I do here as moderator is enforce the rules, and being dumb as a box of rocks isn’t against the rules. So in that respect, you’re completely safe.
The truth only hurts those who prefer lies. Do you need some burn ointment?
The vast majority of comments on this site are not from people who are anti-American, but from people whose eyes are open to the fact that no matter how many times we repeat the mantra, we’re not always the good guys. The US does some f’d up things around the world, and we have no problem calling our government out for it, just as we have no problem calling the governments of other nations out for the f’d up things they do.
If only you were right about that. These days hardly any supposedly “real” journalists go to the warzones to see for themselves… at best they are embedded / in bed with the US military, quote anonymous officials who habitually lie to them, or quote local informants with a known strong bias without spelling out that bias, such as “the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.” But some facts do come out, and this site heroically digs for them.
Well, journalists face a conundrum. Being embedded makes it hard to get the real story, but in 2003 Donald Rumsfeld publicly threatened to murder unembedded journalists who were detected reporting from the combat zone. I don’t recall the threat ever being rescinded and it presumably applies to new combat areas since 2003.
By digs for them you mean goes looking for other people’s stories who are actually brave enough to get off there ass and see for themselves what’s actually happening. You consider stealing other people’s stories and re-writing them as there own brave? Sounds about right only a coward could consider that brave. To anyone else who believes it’s not a REAL journalist job to get off there ass and go get the story your as dumb as the people reading these biased stories from the guy who never goes out to the places he writes about on a daily basis. Journalist risk there lives to get the truth we’ve seen the Vietnam footage to the fall of the Berlin Wall etc, on Anti-war all I see is someone spinning other brave journalist stories that’s not real journalism it’s plagiarizing other people’s stories to fit there narrative plain and simple.
I said heroic, and I don’t need to defend my bravery to you. If you really think going to the war zones to dig is the thing to do, go do it. I think those who take pot-shots at those of us actually trying to make a difference, faulting something good for not being perfect, are the epitome of armchair warriors and hypocrites.
The two corrupt political parties (Democrats/Republicans) are anti-American for it is them who piss all over the bill of rights and have allowed a totalitarian surveillance state in total violation of the 4th amendment. But, I bet you are all for this making you the anti-American.
Majority of the so called Establishment U.S. Media also doesn’t conduct actual journalism or go to war zones for they rely entirely on press releases from the CIA or State Dept. They just act as propagandists for the state.
I am pro American. That is why I say nothing happening in Iran is any business of the US government or responsibility of the American tax payer. We have our own corrupt regime in DC to worry about, one on the other side of the world is not a danger to me or mine.
“enemy sympathizers” There it is in a nutshell. Iran is our enemy according to who? Maybe the people here have enough brains to see what the US has done to the country of Iran since the 1953 coup we helped organize. Do you honestly believe our government gives a flying f**k about the people of Iran? How would our staunch ally, the Saudis, handle a similar situation? Maybe like they did in Bahrain? The commentators here are not backing the oppressive government of Iran anymore than they are backing the oppressive government of North Korea. They are against OUR oppressive government and its intervening throughout the world with disastrous results.
Oh Cowboy, you don’t actually give two sh8ts about the people of Iran. I am sure the people there hate you as much as you hate their regime. They want instigators like you to stay out of their country’s affairs and mind your own business for we have screwed up not only their country since 1953 but the damn middle-east as well.
Hahahaha poor fool.
You’re momma likes it…
So I guess it’s fair game for Iran to hold the US responsible for Boston, and Ferguson, and LA, and Chicago and and and….? Man, I hate when somebody detects and calls out our double standards.
When will American officials be held accountable for their war crimes and crimes against the citizens of Yemen?
The US is a banana republic, has the largest terrorist organisation the world has ever seen, is a police state, directly supports dictators, is guilty of multiple genocides and then has the gall to meddle in other sovereign countries affairs. Message to the US: F*** off!