The Landscape After the Protests
As President Donald Trump was deciding whether or not to continue the suspension of key sanctions on Iran – which he eventually decided to uphold despite his harsh criticism of the 2015 nuclear deal – the country saw the mass demonstrations that swept through its many bigger and smaller cities slowly dying out.
The protests, which began in the city of Mashhad on December 28, 2017, erupted ostensibly over a sharp increase in the price of eggs. In a statement similar to many others issued by governments all over the world, the authorities did, however, blame “the other” – in this particular case “counter-revolutionaries” and “foreign powers” (including the United States of America) – for inducing demonstrations. At the same time, though, President Rouhani and his aides believed that it was his conservative opponents who were behind the outbreak of the protests.
Photo: Reuters
