Is the Iranian Regime Finally Beginning to Crack?

November 16, 2022 at 12 PM ET

Iran has been confronted with the largest wave of mass protests since Ayatollah Sayyid Ruhollah Khomeini first seized the reigns of power in 1979. These demonstrations followed the death of Mahsa Amini on September 16th, who was brutally beaten by the so-called “morality police” because a few strands of hair showed through her hijab.

Since then, Iranians of all ethnic groups, ages, and genders have joined in on these massive demonstrations, and have courageously stood up to the barbaric savagery of the regime, many of which have been arrested, thrown from buildings, or shot on the spot.

On Tuesday, the Iranian parliament voted to employ the death penalty against the protesters. At least 14,000 have been arrested, and the Norwegian-based Iran Human Rights Organization has reported that at least 300 have been executed so far.

Yet, some are arguing that there are some hopeful signs that the regime is beginning to crack. One of these analysts is Reul Marc Gerecht, who together with Ray Takeyh wrote this piece for last week’s Wall Street Journal

About the speaker: Reuel Marc Gerecht is a senior fellow at FDD where he focuses on Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, terrorism, and intelligence. He was previously a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and the director of the Middle East Initiative at the Project for the New American Century. Earlier, he served as a Middle Eastern specialist at the CIA’s Directorate of Operations. Reuel is the author of The Wave: Man, God, and the Ballot Box in the Middle East (Hoover Institution Press, 2011), Know Thine Enemy: A Spy’s Journey into Revolutionary Iran (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1997) and The Islamic Paradox: Shiite Clerics, Sunni Fundamentalists, and the Coming of Arab Democracy (AEI Press, 2004). He has been a correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly, as well as a frequent contributor to The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Dispatch, and other publications.