The Endorsement Iran’s Protesters Didn’t Want
For autocratic regimes, foreign sympathy for demonstrations is akin to intervention.
Last weekend, Donald Trump offered Iran some sage, if obvious, advice: Do not kill your protesters.
The warning came amid ongoing demonstrations in Iran following the country’s admission that it had mistakenly struck down a Ukrainian airliner, killing all 176 people on board, including 83 Iranian nationals. The announcement followed days of denial and obfuscation by Iranian authorities. Anger about the government’s apparent misleading of the public has resulted in the outpouring of thousands onto the streets, some of whom are calling on the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to resign.
Iran is known to at the hands of Iranian security forces. Similar , following a disputed presidential election, resulted in at least 72 deaths.
