Jun 22 2018

The frequency of large-scale protests in Iran against its ruling regime has been increasing, and lately, they have taken on a pro-U.S. stance. In a video from a June 20 protest in Abadan, Iran, a group chants, “Our enemy is right here. They’re lying when they say it’s America.”

The chants echoed a similar protest only days earlier in Tehran’s bazaar, where protesters shouted “Our incompetent government is responsible for our nation’s poverty,” again declaring, “Our enemy is right here. They’re lying when they say it’s America.”

In a recent series of tweets, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo turned his focus toward the movement, posting a graphic on June 20 showing that the protests are growing.

Pompeo also noted in his tweets that “Nearly 30% of Iran’s youth are unemployed,” and that “Iran’s corrupt regime has enriched IRGC, Hizballah and Hamas, and plundered the country’s wealth on proxy wars abroad while Iranian families struggle.”

On June 18, Pompeo also condemned the Iranian regime’s execution of Mohammad Salas of the Iranian Gonabadi Sufi Dervish community, saying, “We call on our partners & allies to join us in condemning his brutal & unjust execution. Iranian people deserve respect for human rights & freedoms.”

It appears one of the primary groups involved in the protests—or at least broadcasting them—is the Mujahedin-Khalq (MEK), which blends Islam with communism. Notably, the 1979 Iranian revolution that installed the current regime also had a similar ideology.

The underlying ideology can be traced to Soviet subversion in the revolution, and to Sayyid Qutb, a founding father of the Muslim Brotherhood who combined socialism with Islam to create the totalitarian theocracies that have since swept the Muslim world. As Iran transitions out of its current oppressive state, the residual effects of these ideologies could be its biggest hurdles.

Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, president of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy told The Epoch Times in a Dec. 14, 2017 interview that Qutb’s socialist Islam created the idea of “Islamism” which warped the concept of sharia (Islamic law), and advocated for “offensive jihad,” which jump-started many terrorist movements.

Source » thepochtimes