I wonder how much of this is accurate?
Iran’s Middle Class on Edge as World Presses InThe rising economic panic has illustrated — and possibly intensified — the bitter divisions within Iran’s political elite. A number of insiders, including members of the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, have begun openly criticizing Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in recent weeks. One of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s aides indirectly accused Ayatollah Khamenei of needlessly antagonizing the West in ways that pushed down the rial’s value, the latest sign of a rift between the president and the supreme leader that is helping to define the parliamentary elections, which are scheduled for March 2.
“They criticize Ahmadinejad and even the supreme leader by name now; it’s not like before,” said Javad, the 45-year-old manager of a travel agency in north Tehran.
It's accurate. Some revolutionary guard personnel, those who served in war with Iraq have criticized Khamenei's behavior and compared it to the late Shah. Middle Class is being pushed below the poverty line, because they are the main opponents of the regime. There's massive economical panic across the nation. Dollar value is almost doubled from last April, and owning dollar bills are now a criminal offense. Everyone must give their dollars to the bank to be put into an account in their name.
Since it is traditionally acceptable for people to own gold, everyone is changing their liquid Rial properties into gold coins. Last week another law was put into effect that made taking gold out of the country illegal. There is huge request for gold coins at the bank and now they are getting orders for 4-6 months later, at almost twice the value of each coin last April. In other words economy is collapsing. Sepah, being in charge of everything imported into the country, faces real trouble to bring the goods here, since the UAE has halted the banking relations with Iran. Add to all these 4 Sepah members ages between 50-52 have died under suspicious circumstances. I wonder if there would be a military coup in the making, or if the Supreme Leader could avert these problems successfully. Add to all these Syria's recent problems and taking Iranians (probably members of Sepah) hostage in Syria. What's clear is that Iranian ties with Hamas could be weakening if Assad is to go and the next in line is not exactly friendly with Iran.
Things are bad here and will be getting worse. But to the point of people toppling the regime? I doubt it. When people are struggling to make ends meet, they are meeker than sheep. Unless there's a military coup and I'm not sure if the result of which would not be worse than present circumstances.
