Kanal13Most Iranians appear to despise a regime that has brought such immense suffering to them. İn this case several police stations in the city were severely damaged and fires broke out as a result of US airstrikes on Tehran. Local residents who gathered at the scene welcomed the incident with joy instead of extinguishing the burning building. Footage circulating on social media shows a police station on one of Tehran’s central streets engulfed in flames, with people cheering and chanting slogans. Witnesses say the public is treating the dismantling of the repressive authorities as a major blow to the regime. At the same time, some citizens are reported to have refused to help the police and are celebrating the news of “Khamenei’s death.” One person said: “Try to find anywhere else on this earth where the population would be happy with an external attack on their country”. In a police state under bombardment, with severe internet restrictions in place, it is impossible to fully gauge the mood across a vast nation of 90 million people. But a week on, while some people are still celebrating every strike on the regime, others are increasingly frightened, questioning the motives and endgame of the war. This incident once again proves how deep the gap between the people and the current regime in Iran has become. While it still has large numbers of die-hard supporters, its many opponents are split between those cheering on the US and Israel, and those who are deeply suspicious. US President Donald Trump says that Iranian people are happy, grateful to him for airstrikes. Prior to the attack, US President Donald Trump told the Iranians, “When we are done, take charge. Your government will be yours’, is not seen as a promise within Iran, but rather as part of the rhetoric of power that accompanies every military confrontation. Whether or not they trust Trump’s words, Iranians understand that the United States does not grant governments to peoples, but rather establishes spheres of influence for itself. Nevertheless, the current situation presents Iranians with a rare opportunity: the chance to see that, whatever its motives, external pressure may create a gap in the wall of a closed theocratic regime that is no longer capable of protecting itself or managing a country the size of Iran.
While many Iranians see the current moment as a rare chance to remove the Khamenei regime, the Iraqi experience looms large as a stark warning that cannot be ignored. After their country was occupied by US forces, Iraqis found themselves living in a state that had collapsed and been torn apart, ruled by militias and open to all forms of outside interference. This model, once presented as ‘liberation’, has become an example in the Iranian consciousness of how the fall of a regime can lead to the collapse of the state itself. It should be noted that since March 2 alone, as part of “Operation Epic Fury”, police stations 104, 113, 151 and 140 in Tehran, as well as the headquarters of the special police forces, have been destroyed.
