Analyzing by PMOI/MEK
Iran, March 11, 2021—In 1978, a year before the fall of the dictatorship of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the then United States President Jimmy Carter called Iran the “Island of Stability.” However, public outrage at decades of repression led to the 1979 anti-monarchy revolution.
Today, some media, under the influence of so-called “Iran experts,” attempt to portray the Iranian regime as a stable power and a weight of balance in the Middle East.
But five nationwide uprisings since 2018 and continued anti-regime demonstrations across the country in recent years have revealed the baselessness of this illusion.
In recent protests, thousands of people across Iran have chanted "We neither want the Shah nor the Supreme Leader," "down with the mullahs’ rule," "death to [regime supreme leader Ali] Khamenei," and "death to [regime president Hassan] Rouhani," and "For 40 years we shed bloodied tears, enough is enough, we'll take a stand."
These protests reached their climax in the November 2019 uprising, in which anti-regime protests spread to nearly 200 cities and were marked by a general call for the overthrow of the mullahs’ rule. In order to quell the voice of protesters, the regime security forces gunned down more than 1,500 people.
But again, Iranian society did not remain silent, and various regime leaders have repeatedly warned of the danger of "another November" and some even described the explosive state of the society as “nitrate of dissent.”
In this regard, the Covid-19 disaster that affected Iran more than any other country in the region was seen by the regime’s Supreme leader Ali Khamenei as “an opportunity and blessing.” “The disaster will be a blessing, and the threat will be an opportunity,” Iranian regime supreme leader Ali Khamenei said in an April 9 speech, in which he discussed Iran’s coronavirus outbreak.
The regime refrained from making any serious move to contain the spread of the virus. During the Covid-19 outbreak, the regime continued to squander billions of dollars on its terrorist proxies, ballistic missile development, and its destructive nuclear program. Meanwhile, of the 1 billion euros Khamenei committed to spend on the coronavirus response, only a fraction has been given to the health ministry.
On the contrary, the constant revelation of the Iranian opposition the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) regarding the regime’s inactions and negligence on the Covid-19 outbreak and the death toll of the pandemic in Iran revealed the mullahs’ corruption and crimes against the Iranian people.
On April 19, 2021, the regime’s First Vice President Eshagh Jahangiri voiced growing concerns over the MEK’s revelations and said, “This country has enemies and dissidents who are spread across the globe, and they have media outlets at their disposal.”
The crimes of the regime during the Coronavirus pandemic caused popular hatred toward the regime’s leaders in a way that, according to the press, the Iranian society is waiting every moment for an opportunity to rise up.
The regime sees the main cause of this incessant movement in the 42-year resistance of the MEK. The MEK has expanded its network inside Iran, known as the Resistance Units, which played a major role in leading nationwide protests. Also, the continued daily anti-regime activities of the Resistance Units across the country show the great potential of Iranian society and its young generation to overthrow the mullahs.
Therefore, in recent years, the regime has resorted to a negative propaganda campaign against the MEK. In an interview with state television on Monday, Iranian regime intelligence minister Mahmoud Alavi acknowledged that the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) is behind a long list of TV series and films created to defame the MEK.
“Given my experience in the ministry, we entered activities related to creating films and series to educate the public, protect the public against espionage, and achieve intelligence goals,” Alavi said. “The movies Rubah (The Fox), Majerayeh Nimrouz (The Nimrouz Affair), Cyanur (Cyanide), Emkan-e Mina, Ruz-e Sefr (Day Zero), Shabi ke Mah Kamel Shod (The Night of the Full Moon), and the TV series Puzzle, The Dream that was Interpreted in Reverse, Saregh-e Ruh (The Soul Thief), and Khaneyeh Amn (Safehouse) were the result of this collaboration with our dear friends,” Alavi said.
The productions mentioned by Alavi are mostly films and series created with the aim of demonizing the MEK. While in most cases, the directors claim that these were movies created with a commercial budget and based on the trends in the society, Alavi’s comments show how deeply the regime controls Iran’s entertainment industry and how it uses it to pursue its political goals.
The regime’s vast campaign against the Iranian Resistance stems from its deep fear of the growing influence of the MEK and how it will affect ongoing protests against the regime. One example was the recent protests erupted in Saravan city in Sistan and Baluchistan province after killing of poor fuel porters.
The protests of Saravan once again showed that it is just a matter of time before another nationwide protest erupts in Iran, and the outrage against the regime is fire under the ashes. Given the current circumstances in Iran, a new wave of protests is inevitable and the West is doomed to be surprised if it continues to follow the situation through lenses “made in Iran” and by buying into the narrative coming from the pro–Iran regime lobby. And it will soon discover how unstable this “Island of Stability” is.
