In Iran, the Anger Deepens

In the Islamic Republic of Iran, the people wait for the Americans to attack. Their anger has never been so deep, and they are waiting to go back to the streets to fight those who still side with the Islamic Republic. Those whose relatives were killed in the January demonstrations are determined to take revenge on their killers. No matter how many more people are killed by the regime, there will not be a return to the status quo that prevailed before the latest cataclysmic eruption. More on the mood on the Iranian street can be found here: “Iran fears US strike could break Islamic regime’s grip on power by reigniting protests, sources say,” Jerusalem Post, February 2, 2026:

Iran’s leadership is increasingly worried a US strike could break its grip on power by driving an already enraged public back onto the streets, following a bloody crackdown on anti-government protests, according to six current and former officials.

In high-level meetings, officials told Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that public anger over last month’s crackdown, the bloodiest since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, has reached a point where fear is no longer a deterrent, four current officials briefed on the discussions said.

The officials said Khamenei was told that many Iranians were prepared to confront security forces again and that external pressure, such as a limited US strike, could embolden them and inflict irreparable damage to the political establishment.

One of the officials told Reuters that Iran’s enemies were seeking more protests so as to bring the Islamic Republic to an end, and “unfortunately,” there would be more violence if an uprising took place.

“An attack combined with demonstrations by angry people could lead to a collapse (of the ruling system). That is the main concern among the top officials, and that is what our enemies want,” said the official, who, like the other officials contacted for this story, declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter.The reported remarks are significant because they suggest private misgivings inside the leadership at odds with Tehran’s defiant public stance towards the protesters and the US.

The sources declined to say how Khamenei responded. Iran’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on this account of the meetings.

Multiple sources told Reuters last week that US President Donald Trump is weighing options against Iran that include targeted strikes on security forces and leaders to inspire protesters, even as Israeli and Arab officials said air power alone would not topple the clerical rulers.

Any such uprising in the wake of a US strike would stand in contrast to the Iranians’ response to Israeli and US bombing attacks on Iran’s nuclear program back in June, which was not followed by anti-government demonstrations.

But a former senior moderate official said the situation had changed since the crackdown in early January.

“People are extremely angry,” he said, adding a US attack could lead Iranians to rise up again. “The wall of fear has collapsed. There is no fear left.”…

Iran’s current situation is the “direct result of destructive domestic and international interventions and policies” of Khamenei, former parliament speaker and reformist cleric Mehdi Karroubi was cited by The Telegraph as saying.

The “costly and fruitless nuclear project and the heavy consequences of sanctions over the past two decades on the country and people” were examples of failed policies, according to Karroubi….

Iran spent more than $100 billion on its nuclear project, money that went up in smoke when the Israelis and Americans obliterated almost all of it in the 12-Day War. The Islamic Republic also spent billions of dollars on weaponry for its proxies, Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the Houthis in Yemen, and on Syria when Assad still ruled it. In recent years, it has spent $700 million a year on Hezbollah, $350 million a year on Hamas, $100 million a year on the Houthis. Iran also spent at least $30 billion on Assad’s Syria between 2012 and December 2025. Thanks to the IDF, almost all of that expensive weaponry that Iran provided or paid for was destroyed. The people of Iran know that tens of billions of dollars was spent by the regime on those proxies, money that should have ben spent to relieve their anguish and poverty.

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