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The Crisis of Public Confidence in the Iranian Regime

(Institute for National Security Studies-Tel Aviv University) Raz Zimmt - The attempts by Iranian authorities to hide information from the public regarding the downing of the Ukrainian airplane by the Revolutionary Guards in January and the outbreak of the coronavirus in February have caused further significant damage to Iranian public confidence in Islamic Republic institutions. However, this does not mean that the current political order is under any significant immediate threat. A large part of the public, including those opposed to the regime, are still concerned about chaos and loss of control, particularly in view of the experience of many Arab countries in the past decade. To many Iranians, the alternative to the current regime may be even worse, for instance, a Revolutionary Guard takeover of power centers if the current political system collapses. Moreover, the Iranian regime still holds significant means of repression, and does not hesitate to resort to brutality to repress demonstrations that challenge its stability. The writer is a research fellow at INSS specializing in Iran.
2020-03-12 00:00:00
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