Widespread protests have gripped Iran for more than a week over the spiralling cost of living and the apparent inability of the government to ease the pain. What started with some shopkeepers striking work in Tehran has since turned into a national movement seeking accountability from the Iranian government, with people taking to the streets in multiple provinces. The Iranian government of President Masoud Pezeshkian initially promised to listen to the grievances of the protesters. But as the protests intensified, the government’s response grew harsher. Several people have been killed in crackdowns by security forces or in clashes with them. The supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has said that rioters should be dealt with firmly; Yet Iran’s economic struggles are real. The currency is crashing against the dollar to record lows, inflation is soaring, and Western sanctions have strangled both the country’s oil exports and its access to international finance. As always, the poorer sections are facing the brunt. While Iran is no stranger to massive protests seeking a better quality of life and greater civil freedoms — the movement that erupted after Mahsa Amini, a young woman, died in custody following her arrest over the way she wore her headscarf, is one example — this time, things appear to be different.

The Islamic republic of Iran as a State is weaker today than it has been since after its founding in 1979. Its young generation has little appetite for the rhetoric of a bygone era when it cannot afford food. The devastating attacks by Israel and the US last year showed how fragile Iran’s military defences are. Donald Trump’s threat that Washington was ready to intervene if Iranian security forces continue to kill protesters can no longer be dismissed as an exaggeration. The brazen, illegal abduction of the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, by US troops from Caracas, following air attacks on the country, suggests that Mr Trump believes he can do as he pleases — and get away with it. Significantly, the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was also in Washington last week, trying to convince Mr Trump to attack Iran. The Iranian government needs to respond to the concerns of its people. And the world must tell
Mr Trump very clearly that it will not accept a repeat of Venezuela.