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The demise of Qassem Soleimani is the latest and worst in a series of blows to the Islamic Republic in recent months. In October, anti-corruption protest movements erupted in Iraq and Lebanon, where demonstrators called for an end to the privileged status that the regime’s proxies have come to enjoy. The anti-Islamic Republic demands are most explicit in Iraq, where militias loyal to Khamenei and built by Qassem Soleimani have attempted, unsuccessfully, to suppress the demonstrations with extreme violence.
Damage to the political legitimacy of the Islamic Republic has also come from inside Iran itself. In November 2019, another wave of protests against the regime swept the country, engulfing every major town and city. All ethnic groups and social classes were represented in demonstrations that were quelled ultimately through the killing of 1,500 peaceful protesters and the detention of thousands more. Throughout the country, protestors chanted slogans in favor of the former crown prince, Reza Pahlavi, the son of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi.
Mr. Pahlavi is the most prominent Iranian opposition figure and, increasingly, a unifying symbol among Iranians who seek to replace the current regime with a secular liberal democracy. He is uniquely positioned, therefore, to shed light on Iran at the crossroads. Can it manage the unprecedented series of historic challenges that it faces? How will it seek to break out of the corner into which President Trump has maneuvered it? And what strategy should the United States adopt to achieve the best results for itself and the Iranian people?
Please join Hudson Institute for a fireside chat with Senior Fellow and Keystone Defense Initiative Director Rebeccah Heinrichs and John Spencer, chair of Urban Warfare Studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point and co-director of the Urban Warfare Project.
Join Hudson Institute and the Ben Franklin Fellowship for a two-panel discussion examining US policy as it confronts the crisis of terror in Nigeria.
Join Hudson Institute's Center for the Economics of the Internet for a keynote address given by Tricia Paoletta on the Trump administration's progress in managing and reallocating the electromagnetic radio frequency spectrum from the federal domain.
Join Hudson Institute for a discussion with Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson and Senior Fellow Harold Furchtgott-Roth.
