‘You are all worse than each other’: anti-regime Iranians turn on Trump

After years of arrests, disappearances and mass killings of protesters, some anti-regime Iranians believed Donald Trump’s pledge that the United States would rescue them.

“After years of arrests, disappearances and mass killings of protesters, the hatred in Iran from some quarters for the hardline, oppressive governing regime had boiled into such a desperate rage that many believed Donald Trump’s promise that the US would “come to their rescue””

The Guardian

A fortnight of war followed, with US and Israeli airstrikes killing hundreds as they hit residential blocks, shops, fuel depots and even a school, shifting the mood in Iran.

The Guardian

Amir*, a student at the University of Tehran, said the anti-regime movement now views both the regime and outside powers as unreliable.

The regime’s grip persists, but Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s death led to the appointment of his son to replace him, while Israel has widened and intensified attacks on Iran.

Tehran’s Shahran oil depot was struck, and a rain shower coated trees, homes and cars with toxic oil.

The Guardian

Golestan Palace in Tehran and Chehel Sotoon Palace in Isfahan were damaged, raising questions about how to rebuild a priceless part of Iran’s history.

A Karaj-based student said they want the regime gone and had asked for help from Trump, while wondering when the plan shifted to hitting civil infrastructure and why.

Most Iranians have lived their entire lives under the regime, in a country with restricted media and risk of jail for dissent.

“After years of arrests, disappearances and mass killings of protesters, the hatred in Iran from some quarters for the hardline, oppressive governing regime had boiled into such a desperate rage that many believed Donald Trump’s promise that the US would “come to their rescue””

The Guardian

Protest movements have persisted for nearly two decades, including the Green Movement of 2009 and the Woman, Life, Freedom uprising that began in 2022 after Mahsa Amini’s death, with thousands killed by security forces.

An Iranian doctor who treated protesters in January said there remains some hope that the war could bring real change.

Many in Iran fear that ending the war now would leave the same leaders in power and the killings continuing.

Reports of civilian casualties have shifted opinions about foreign intervention, with accounts of Tehran experiencing wave-like strikes resembling carpet bombing.

The Guardian

Iranians feel abandoned as three governments, not one, are killing them.