The protests gripping Iran are fuelled by immense economic pressures and frustration with the government, but with Iranians having felt Israel's wrath and also seen what the US did in Venezuela, their demands are not for foreign intervention, a slate of regional experts have said.
Speaking at an event hosted by the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft in Washington DC on Monday, the experts said that whilst there may be some voices that are outliers, most Iranians were looking for the international community to help lift crippling US sanctions and begin a new path forward.
"I think that [the] vast majority of Iranians would welcome a deal that lifts the shadow of war and invites the removal of sanctions," Mohammad Ali Shabani, editor of the Amwaj newsmagazine, told the panel, adding that most Iranians accept that the Islamic Republic is not going to be there forever.
"And in fact, what we have seen over the past 20 years is that its survival is almost extended by sanctions," Shabani said.
Shabani pointed to Iran's middle class as a potential driver for political change in the country. But US sanctions over the last two decades have been "hollowing out" the middle class and, in turn, organic political change.
