Caspian Weekly

Last year, following the rigged presidential election that gave president Ahmadinejad his second term, Iran was in turmoil. Millions of Iranians poured to the streets in protest. The brutal crackdown and the dramatic pictures of protests have captured the world’s imagination and sympathy. Following a few months of protests and failed hopes, the streets became quiet – but perhaps not for long.

Last Friday Hussein Sajedi-Niya, security forces chief of Greater Tehran announced a “neighborhood security plans” in where security officials will practice in more than 2000 (!) neighborhoods in greater Tehran. He too senses that this relative calm is hiding more than what meets the eye. The Islamic regime is in the midst of an economic turmoil, the likes of which has never been seen in its tumultuous 31 years of history. While the regime desperately seeks a way out of it, the Iranian people are already paying a very heavy price, perhaps more than they can afford. Unless this course is altered, masses of Iranians will soon have far less to lose. And that spells trouble to an already weakened and politically fractured Islamic regime.

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