The biggest story in the Middle East – the biggest one in the entire world for the past decade – may happen any day now.
And it just might also turn out to be President Donald Trump’s greatest foreign policy success yet.
One of the most infamous names in Iranian politics is warning that the people have had enough. Change could be coming – quickly – and the time of hardline Islamic extremism could be over.
That warning hasn’t come from a Western analyst.
It’s not wishful thinking from a Washington policy wonk.
It’s not even a threat from the Trump administration.
It’s from the grandson of Ayatollah Rouhollah Khomeini, architect of the 1978-79 Islamic revolution and the man who dubbed America “The Great Satan.”
Hassan Khomeini warned the hardline government – a sworn enemy of the United States and Israel, and state sponsor of global terror – that they’re going too far.
“Nothing should be imposed on the people in the Iranian society,” he said, speaking out amid months of growing protests.
“We must find the rules for human behavior and the causes of stability and collapse in order to live according to them,” he said, according to Iran News Wire. “Otherwise there is no guarantee that we [the regime] will stay and others will go.”
In case that was too veiled a warning, he was crystal clear with his next sentence.
“If you do not follow the rules, they will take the arena from you,” he said,
Yes, just as his grandfather “took the arena” 40 years ago, it can be taken back once the people are fed up with the restrictions, corruption and hardline behavior.
He even warned the government of “unpleasant consequences” if it doesn’t pay attention to what the people want, Al Arabiya English reported.
Given his family name and history, the phrase “unpleasant consequences” should be sounding the alarm in Tehran.
And given what’s happening in the streets, they should be downright terrified.
Days after bogus government-organized demonstrations in support of itself, the people erupted with a new set of protests to show how they REALLY feel.
Instead of chanting “death to America,” they were screaming “death to dictatorship” and – in what has to be even more alarming – “death to Khamenei.”
That’s a reference to Supreme Ruler Ali Khamenei, the hardliner who has run the country since Ayatollah Khomeini died in 1989.
Now, Khomeini’s grandson is warning him: time’s up.
And he’s hardly alone.
Mehdi Sheikh, a member of Iran’s parliament, wrote in an editorial saying the regime could be “put aside” by the people, according to Iran News Wire.
“The people have not signed a contract with any state,” he wrote. “The people choose rulers and governments because they believe that their demands will be met but when a government or its officials refuse to be held accountable, it’s only natural that sooner or later, they will be put aside.”
Faezeh Hashemi, a former member of parliament, called the government’s collapse “very probable.”
The Daily Wire reports that Faezeh Hashemi – daughter of former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani – warned of the “physical decline” of the regime.
None of these people have mentioned the United States… or Trump.
But certainly, a harder line by the United States – and pulling out of the nuclear agreement that was helping to prop up the Tehran regime – has played a key role in pressuring the government.
And now, it looks like that pressure could pay off, as Iranian people fed up with their hardline leaders are pushing for freedom and democracy.
Trump has already let the people know… he may be against their regime. But he’s with them in their quest to break free:
Iran is failing at every level despite the terrible deal made with them by the Obama Administration. The great Iranian people have been repressed for many years. They are hungry for food & for freedom. Along with human rights, the wealth of Iran is being looted. TIME FOR CHANGE!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 1, 2018
— The Horn editorial team