Iran: Between Samson and Samsung

[Valin]

Gatestone Institute

Amir Taheri
December 1, 2019

• The daily Kayhan, commonly believed to reflect Khamenei's views, is even calling for gallows to be erected to hang "evil-doers" in public, regardless of the numbers involved.

• Khamenei's "Samson option" reminds one of Hermann Goering, the German Nazi grandee who boasted that whenever he faces a cultural problem he cannot understand he reaches for his gun.

• One could call this "the Samsung option" as Jahromi, who masterminded the cutting of the Internet for several days to break the uprising's momentum, has a plan to make it difficult if not impossible for millions of poor Iranians to use mobile phones and have access to the Internet. In other words, "Samsung" ought to be treated as a weapon only reserved for the 30 percent of the population that, according to Rouhani, are "content with the good life they have."

 

As the latest wave of protests in Iran begins to subside, at least for the time being, the Khomeinist ruling elite still appear unable to decide what caused the uprising and how to deal with its consequences.

One faction, led by "Supreme Guide" Ali Khamenei, offers a standard analysis that has become the hallmark of the regime's approach to all things political. Khamenei says the uprising was the result of "a deep, broad and very dangerous foreign conspiracy" and nothing else. Moreover, he insists that the only way to deal with its consequences is with an iron fist.

(Snip)