Iranian government has limited citizens’ access to the internet.
Drew Angerer/Getty Images
With the people protesting the Iranian government and calling for better treatment and transparency, some have gone so far as to call for the removal — by force, if necessary — of President Hassan Rouhani.
Hail to the heroic people of #Kermanshah who have risen up with chants of “death or freedom”, “death to Rouhani” and “death to the dictator” to protest against high prices, poverty and corruption. Yesterday in #Mashhad, today in Kermanshah, and tomorrow all over #Iran.
— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) December 29,2017
Rouhani, who won re-election on the promise of a more representative government, has not delivered.
19 May 2017: Rouhani won 24 mill. votes on one promise: “A more representative political system to come”
He lied. 222 days later: protests pic.twitter.com/ogByBs9eDn
— Alex Vatanka (@AlexVatanka) December 31,2017
With more and more people filling the streets of Iran, Rouhani finally addressed the people on Sunday evening — and he was certainly fired up, but it wasn’t the protesters he was angry with.
Rather, Rouhani took aim at President Donald Trump.
Fox News reported:
He said Trump “has forgotten that he had called Iranian people ‘terrorists’ a few months ago.”
Rouhani also said in his speech Sunday night — his first since the protests first broke out Thursday — that people have the right to demonstrate, but those demonstrations should not make the public “feel concerned about their lives and security.”
Trump and others in his administration have voiced their support for the Iranian citizens’ protests and have put the Iranian government on notice regarding their potential response to the protests.
And Trump didn’t let Rouhani’s jab go unanswered, either:
Iran, the Number One State of Sponsored Terror with numerous violations of Human Rights occurring on an hourly basis, has now closed down the Internet so that peaceful demonstrators cannot communicate. Not good!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 31,2017
Fox News also noted there have been numerous reports of limited access to the messaging app Telegram — which the Associated Press believes was used to coordinate the protests — and Instagram as well.
