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Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/14/world/middleeast/iran-protests-government.html
With Crackdown on Protests, Iran's Government Is Buying Time
(New York Times) Steven Erlanger - The Islamic Republic is likely to quash the current unrest, analysts said, even as the demonstrations expose popular discontent that may be impossible to suppress in the longer term. "But since the regime can only suppress and not address the underlying causes, it is only buying time until the next round of confrontation between the state and society," said Ali Vaez, Iran project director for the International Crisis Group. Public fury will persist, predicted Vali Nasr, an Iran expert at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington. "The protests were extremely significant, and even if they dissipate, the anger that they produced has not gone away." The protests show that many Iranians may now believe that the Islamic Revolution of 1979 has failed to address their everyday economic needs and has instead focused on extending its military might through its nuclear enrichment and proxy forces in the region. At the same time, the government retains a monopoly on the use of force and has shown its willingness to use it to crush this challenge. There have been no serious defections so far from the security services or the army to the opposition.