Dueling narratives about Iran.

 IRAN REPORTS PROTESTS UNDER CONTROL

CLAIMS RECORDED COMMUNICATONS OF OUTSIDE COORDINATION

Information about what is happening in Iran is now very clouded, mostly due to the complete internet blackout. The protests were triggered by a dramatic decline in the value of Iranian currency claimed to be caused by outside financial manipulation. It is not clear how this came about, but Iran has been under continuous economic sanctions for 45 years. The protests began with merchants complaining about the rise in inflation and acknowledged by the government as a legitimate concern. Then it is has been reported from many sources that the protests were infiltrated with armed operatives shooting protesters and police and creating a chaotic situation with many casualties.

The government then shut down all internet service and has reported that the protests and riots were being coordinated through Elon Musk's Starlink. It has now been reported that the Iranian government has been able to also disable the Starlink system, which many claim requires a sophisticated electronic jamming equipment likely to have been provided by Russia or China. Iran also claims that it has been able to monitor and record the conversations over Starlink and has identified many of those who were communicating with operatives in the U.S. and Israel.

There are reports that the protests have mostly ended and have been replaced by supporters of the government, but there is limited ability to verify any of this. I suspect that much of this will be made clear in the coming days and verifiable communication becomes available out of Iran.

It is very possible that these riots were planned in coordination with the anticipated U.S. Israeli attacks on Iran. If these riots are actually ended, will this make an attack now less likely?

Both China and Russia have serious interest in Iran as a geopolitical geographic position in their future economic and BRICS expansion. One can expect they will do all they can short of direct action to protect the sovereignty of Iran.