"Death to Palestine"

Out there in the real world, change seems to be coming. Naturally, the armies of the aggrieved are complaining about American foreign policy. They excel at complaining, so they exercise the muscle whenever they can, regardless.

State Department employees, relieved to have been freed from Rex Tillerson, are now complaining about Mike Pompeo. They refuse to look at the larger picture of American foreign policy, so they resort to whining about their own condition. And, of course, bemoaning the downgrade in our relations with Western European countries.

So, we have not been reading many stories about the protest demonstrations that are currently taking place in Iran. We have not been reading about the fact that these protesters are on the streets shouting: Death to Palestine. Did you ever imagine that you would ever hear that?

We are not going to credit the Trump administration’s rejection of the Iran nuclear deal entirely, but still, the anticipation of renewed economic sanctions seems to have had a strikingly deleterious effect on the Iranian economy, and especially on the Iranian currency.

Paul Mirengoff reports on the Powerline blog (via Sarah Hoyton Instapundit):

Tehran was rocked by protests today. Protesters confronted police officers in front of parliament and swarmed Tehran’s Grand Bazaar, forcing its closure (according to this account, though, merchants themselves initiated the shutdown to protest skyrocketing prices).

Rising prices and other economic woes are, indeed, at the heart of the protests, which in recent days have also forced the closure of major shopping centers in Tehran. Iran’s economy seems to be cratering, and its currency, the Iranian rial, has plummeted to 90,000 to the U.S. dollar on the black market. At the end of last year, it was 43,000.

Earlier this year, I noted Iran’s runaway inflation, and its possible consequences for the regime. Since then, things have gotten worse, as President Trump’s announcement that the U.S. will withdraw from the nuclear deal fuels economic pessimism.

But there’s more to the protests than just economic discontent. Protesters reportedly carried signs and shouted chants expressing disgust with the regime’s foreign adventurism — e.g., “Palestine, Syria are reasons of our misery” and “Let go of Syria, think of us.” They blame Iranian foreign and military policy for the state of the economy.

It’s always nice to begin your day with some good news.