Iran’s unbeaten image ended in a few hours on June 13, when Israel launched an unprecedented surprise attack that shook Tehran’s sense of security and undid his carefully cultivated aura of strength.
During the Iran repeatedly retaliated against Israel, causing extensive damage to large cities like Tel Aviv and killing 28 people. His ability to retaliate under fire was praised internally, even among people who oppose the regime and spoke to the CNN.
But what happens next worries many Iranians. There are growing fears of repression of reformists and appeals for change as the regime mobilizes to eradicate alleged Israeli collaborators.
Until Wednesday (25), the authorities arrested 700 people accused of being “Israel’s mercenary,” said the state news agency Fars.
Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the oldest leader in the Middle East, is supposedly hidden in a bunker with little access to communications. He has not yet been seen in public since Israel and Iran arrived at, which came into force on Tuesday (24).
He rules with iron fist for over 35 years, repressing protests since at least 2005.
What the experts say
Arash Azizi, an expert in Iran based in New York and author of the book “What the Iranians want,” said the Iranians are probably concerned about “a wounded regime coming behind them and closing further political and civic space.”
Repression may get worse, he told CNNadding that the Iranian opposition abroad proved to be “inept and politically irrelevant”, while internal civil society is “defensive.”
Experts claim that they only encouraged conservatives, that they had long ago felt that the West and Israel were not reliable and that negotiations were just a tactic to weaken the country.
The fate of reformists and pragmatics is now at stake, and only time will tell if they will survive the change that will likely occur in the lead ranks, they said.
