Iran Signals Upcoming Clampdown on Anti Government Protests

Welcome back. I'm Tiffany Meyer. Iran is signaling a clampdown on anti-government protests challenging President Trump's pledge to support peaceful demonstrators. According to the Human Rights Activists News Agency, the death toll has risen to at least 62 people. Joining us now to discuss these latest developments is Ellie Cohen, who fled Iran with her family as a child during the 1979 Islamic Revolution. She served as a deputy special envoy for the State Department during the first Trump administration and is currently a senior fellow at Independent Women and a host for Al Arabia English. Alli, thank you so much for joining us. First, how are you viewing this latest protest? Is there more momentum, enthusiasm past ones? Tiffany, it's great to be with you and I would tell you that um this wave of protests does seem different from all previous uh waves. And the reason is um twofold. One is that we have seen the movement start with um financial crisis with the Iranian currency hitting a historic all-time low about 13 days ago. But then the protests went from um from again the economic crisis to clear chance in the country for uh death to kame for uh calls for resa the crown prince in exile and for the end to the regime. So we've seen a clear um demand by the people of Iran for the downfall of the regime. So that's been a a significant difference. The other significant difference I would say is the uh reaction of President Donald J. Trump in that for the first time we are hearing a US president clearly tell the Iranian regime if you hurt kill protesters you're going to get hit hard. >> And on that last part would you say that President Trump has given the demonstrators hope? >> Oh absolutely. Um, I can tell you as an Iranian American that um I have Iranians in Iran reach out to me constantly on social media and um they're always asking for help. They're always looking to um what is going on in the United States, specifically in the White House. And um look, there's a stark contrast between how Barack Obama responded in 2009 to the Green protest movement to again what we're hearing from President Trump today, which has been, you know, I would say about fourth or fifth time we heard from him in a press conference today reiterating uh his warning to the Iranian regime. And I think if you take President Trump's warnings in light of the recent US operation in Venezuela, removing Maduro and and extraditing him to the United States and also in light of the 12-day war in which the United States um fully destroyed the Iranian nuclear program. Uh if I were in the regime's shoes, I would be taking these threats very seriously from President Trump. And of course the big question now is could this latest wave of protests lead to an overthrow of the regime? What are your thoughts? >> Oh yeah, absolutely. I think again because this time is very different all those factors that I mentioned. Um look the 12-day war as an example really left the regime completely exposed and vulnerable and its own population knows that the Israelis wiped out Iran's missile system. Uh their skies are just completely open for further attack. the nuclear program was decimated by the United States and also the Israelis took out the top leadership not just of the nuclear program but also of the IRGC. And so, you know, you you combine that with 47 years of oppression and repression by this uh theocratic radical Islamist uh dictatorship and um you know all of their violent oppression, the fact that they have taken a very oil rich and energy energy rich country and somehow have left the uh population impoverished. All of those factors together combined have led to this moment which is um the Iranian people wanting to take back their country. I think if you want to understand it from the a person's perspective, the way they see it 47 years ago, the Ayatolli um made all kinds of promises of free housing and free this and free that. And it's something that I think in the United States we're hearing more of these days from our own politicians. And so the Iranian people 47 years ago were were sold a bill of uh a fake bill of goods. For 47 years, they have been victims of this oppressive regime that has carried out violence against them over and over again. And so now, 47 years later, I think the Iranian people just want to correct a historical mistake. And that's the reason why you're often hearing chants in Iran of Javid Sha and um which means long live the sha and also uh chants that are saying that this is the final battle and pavi will return again. this um call for the prince, the crown prince in exile, the sha in exile to return to Iran. They want to correct what they believe is a mistake that took place 47 years ago in a history of a very proud and ancient people. >> Well, Ellie Cohen, thank you so much for joining us. Good to be with