From Iran to Iran?

Reza Aslan: Cairo’s Protests Reverberate in Tehran

People wondering whether what began in Iran two years ago could possibly make its way back to Iran in the near future. That is certainly what the Green Movement hopes will happen; its leaders recently petitioned the government for a permit to stage a protest in Iran next Monday in order to “show solidarity with the popular movements in the region and specifically the freedom-seeking movement embarked on by Tunisian and Egyptian people against their autocratic governments.” There is no chance the Iranian regime is going to let that happen.

In fact, the government has just shut down access in Iran to Reuters and Yahoo News, perhaps in recognition that the events in Egypt are increasingly difficult to spin into pro-regime propaganda. Instead, the regime has announced it will stage its own rally in support of the people of Egypt to coincide with the 32nd anniversary of the 1979 Revolution, which takes place this Friday. Of course, the last time the regime tried to celebrate the revolution’s anniversary, it had to flood the streets with tens of thousands of armed security guards and shut down virtually all access to mobile phones and the internet, at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars, just to keep the event from being hijacked by the Green Movement.

It was Egypt’s foreign minister who perhaps best summed up the situation in Iran by condemning the Iranian regime for “distracting the Iranian people’s attention by hiding behind what is happening in Egypt.”

“Iran’s critical moment has not come yet,” said Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit. “But we will watch that moment with great anticipation and interest.”

Whatever happens in Iran Friday, we should do the same.