(New Yorker) Dexter Filkins - In February, I paid a clandestine visit to a reformist leader in Tehran, who spent several years in prison but remains connected with like-minded officials in the regime. My host told me that public confidence in the theocratic system - installed after the Iranian Revolution in 1979 - has collapsed. Iran's ruling clerics have left the country economically hobbled and largely cut off from the rest of the world. "I would say 85% of the population hates the current system. But the system is incapable of reforming itself," my host said. This February 11, the 41st anniversary of the revolution, a celebration was scheduled for downtown Tehran. I was at a restaurant in the city when a waitress overheard me discussing plans to attend. "You're going?" she asked with a sneer. "They force people to be there - they blackmail them. They tell people that if they don't go they will lose their jobs." The sense of unreality accompanied me throughout my time in Iran. During my visit, President Rouhani held a press conference, and I asked him how many civilians the government had killed. He gave a rambling response. When I returned to my seat, an Iranian reporter, her face surrounded by a chador, turned to me and spoke loudly enough for much of the room to hear. "I noticed the President didn't answer your question," she said, in flawless English. "We hate him."
2020-05-20 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive