Protesters need support following the bloody crackdown by a ‘zombie’ regime – not wild threats or worse from the US president
T
he brutality of Iran’s crackdown on protesters is almost unfathomable. Despite the authorities cutting off communications and destroying evidence, it is clear that a regime never reluctant to shed its citizens’ blood has done so with unprecedented zeal, sensing an unprecedented threat from unrest across the country, challenging not only its policies but its very existence.
Officials have reported 3,000 deaths, but human rights groups have tallied many more, and a network of medical professionals has estimated that 30,000 could have been killed. Security forces shot people dead as they fled a fire and are arresting doctors for helping the wounded.
Alongside the fury at this vengeful regime is anger at another leader: Donald Trump, who urged Iranians to keep protesting and promised them that “help is on its way” – then played down the slaughter. Now the US president has warned via social media that “a massive Armada is heading to Iran”, and that “the next attack will be far worse” than Operation Midnight Hammer, the US strike on nuclear sites last summer. Iran’s muted response, and its weakening over the last year, has emboldened him, as has his seizure of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro, referenced in his post. But protesters were forgotten: instead his demand was “NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS”.
