Iran expert Dr. Thamar Eilam Gindin discusses the confusion Trump's shifting policies have created among the Iranian people-and explains why it is regime supporters who are taking to the streets.
The changing approach of U.S. President Donald Trump toward Iran-war, negotiations, renewed strikes, no negotiations, and back again-has left the Iranian public confused, uncertain whether they should once again risk their lives to overthrow the Ayatollahs' regime while waiting for American assistance that has yet to materialize. Arutz Sheva spoke with Dr. Thamar Eilam Gindin, an Iran expert at the Ezri Center at the University of Haifa, about the mood on the streets of Iran.
"There is a very strong sense of betrayal" among opponents of the regime, she said. "One of the reasons they burned mosques on January 8 and carried out such bold acts was because Trump had promised to intervene once the regime began killing protesters. But not only did he fail to intervene-he even negotiated with the murderers after they had killed between 30,000 and 70,000 people."
"At the time, some argued that he was simply buying time to rearm, and some are making the same claim today. It is well known that the Islamic Republic buys time, meaning that both sides are buying time. Perhaps Trump's relative unpredictability is actually encouraging, because maybe he will reverse course from where things stand now." Asked whether these assessments are based on information coming directly from Iran or whether internet restrictions make everything speculative, Dr. Eilam Gindin noted that Iran's internet has recently been reopened to all providers after a period during which only government providers had access. (Read More)
