This is an adapted excerpt from the Jan. 4 episode of “Velshi.”
In Iran, major protests over economic hardship have shaken the Islamic republic. According to rights groups, at least 25 people have been killed during the demonstrations, which entered their tenth day on Monday.
On Saturday, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei spoke on state-run television, telling the Iranian people: “We talk to protesters; the officials must talk to them. But there is no benefit to talking to rioters. Rioters must be put in their place.”
Amid these protests, Donald Trump is getting involved, seemingly coming to the defense of the protesters while issuing military threats against Iran.
To better understand how we got here, we must go back eight years, to May 8, 2018. That’s when, in his first administration, Trump withdrew the United States from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, better known as the Iran nuclear deal.
That landmark agreement was signed in the summer of 2015 during the Obama administration, following years of intense negotiations. It was designed to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, essentially by limiting Tehran’s uranium enrichment capabilities and stockpiles.
According to the United Nations and Trump’s own government, the deal was working at the time his administration ended it.
After the U.S. withdrew from the deal, it reinstated harsh economic sanctions on Iran. In turn, Iran started enriching uranium again, and by 2023, U.N. inspectors found Iran was getting closer to obtaining weapons-grade uranium and closer to the threshold needed to hypothetically build a nuclear weapon.
Another important thing Iran did after the U.S. withdrew from the deal was to build up the so-called Axis of Resistance, a loosely associated alliance of groups in the region that are trained, funded, supplied and supported by Tehran.
They act as Iranian proxies in regional conflicts and attacks. It’s filled with groups whose ideologies don’t necessarily always align but are unified under an umbrella against the U.S. and Israel. It consists of small forces, as well as larger groups such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Yemeni Houthis and Hamas, which conducted the Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
After Oct. 7, the Axis of Resistance kicked into overdrive and acted much more aggressively. However, it has since been significantly weakened by Israeli and U.S. attacks, which have, in effect, weakened Iran’s overall influence and power.
Iran’s nuclear program was also further weakened back in June, when the U.S. joined a 12-day Israeli bombing campaign, striking several of Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Trump claimed Iran’s nuclear program was “obliterated.” However, pretty much everyone else — including the U.N., Israel, Iran and even some U.S. officials — has said that while significant damage was done, the program was not entirely destroyed, and the country still has the enriched uranium it possessed before the strikes. Over the past several months, Iranian officials have claimed they are no longer enriching uranium and have signaled to Western nations an openness to negotiations for a new nuclear deal. A major reason for this about-face by Iran is that those U.S. sanctions are indeed causing tremendous ongoing economic suffering in Iran. That appears to be coming to a head right now, as these protests have erupted in several cities in the country. The protests were initiated by business owners, merchants and shopkeepers, groups that tend to keep a lower profile, along with students, who have always been at the forefront of Iranian protests. These are the biggest demonstrations in Iran since 2022, when the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini triggered massive nationwide protests. Amini died in custody after being arrested by the morality police, reportedly for not wearing her hijab as authorities demanded. While the current protests over Iran’s ailing economy haven’t quite reached the scale and intensity of those surrounding Amini’s death, Iranian officials have actually signaled a willingness to engage with protesters, for now. But it appears Trump is only adding fuel to the fire. Early Friday morning, he posted to social media: “If Iran shots and violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue. We are locked and loaded and ready to go. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Marc Katz and Allison Detzel contributed.
Ali Velshi is the host of “Velshi,” which airs Saturdays and Sundays on MSNBC. He has been awarded the National Headliner Award for Business & Consumer Reporting for “How the Wheels Came Off,” a special on the near collapse of the American auto industry. His work on disabled workers and Chicago’s red-light camera scandal in 2016 earned him two News and Documentary Emmy Award nominations, adding to a nomination in 2010 for his terrorism coverage. Recommended
