The Betrayal of the Iranian People

In this Conflicted Conversation, Yeganeh Torbati, the Iran correspondent for the New York Times, discusses her excellent new book Stolen Revolution: Betrayal and Hope in Modern Iran.

Yeganeh explains how:

• The 1979 revolution promised justice but created clerical authoritarianism.
• Islamic law was subordinated to preservation of the supreme leader.
• Institutions created to help the poor became engines of economic corruption.
• The IRGC became a military-economic oligarchy.
• Khatami-era reformism failed by refusing to challenge the constitutional source of authoritarian power.
• Ahmadinejad promised to overthrow corrupt elites but merely installed new ones.
• Rouhani promised economic normalization but enabled even greater corruption.
• The destruction of all sources of organized opposition left protesters exposed to overwhelming violence.
• Foreign powers encouraged expectations they did not possess the strategy or commitment to fulfil.
• Iranian society continues to resist socially and culturally, making the future unstable rather than settled.

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Conflicted is a Message Heard production.

Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren.

Produced and edited by Thomas Small.

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