Screen shot: https://twitter.com/HeshmatAlavi/status/1216343324283539457

Mass protests have continued in Iran for a second day. Iranian journalist Heshmat Alavi has several videos he would like “certain DC politicians & MSM who glorify Soleimani & describe him as a “popular general,” a “divine” figure, and a “national war hero,” [to see]. Watch how people in #Iran tear apart a poster of his image along with the regime’s dictator @khamenei_ir.”

To certain DC politicians & MSM who glorify Soleimani & describe him as a "popular general," a "divine" figure & a "national war hero," watch how people in #Iran tear apart a poster of his image along with the regime's dictator @khamenei_ir.

MIC DROP!pic.twitter.com/ZYhLb8b6i2

— Heshmat Alavi (@HeshmatAlavi) January 11, 2020

Below, Alavi reports something extraordinarily heartening. At a crowded quad at Beheshti University located in Tehran, someone has spread out a large U.S. flag next to a large Israeli flag. Contrary to what Democrats would have us believe, most of the students go out of their way to avoid stepping on the flags.

Alavi, who has tweeted video of the scene below, asks Washington politicians and mainstream media, who have taken the side of the terrorists in the killing of Soleimani, why most of the students refuse to disrespect either flag.

In Alavi’s second video, several students are shown walking over the flags and those on the sidelines are booing and chanting “Shame on you.”

Jan 12 – Tehran, #Iran
Beheshti University
Another view Iranians refusing to disrespect the U.S. & Israeli flags.

Those who do walk on the flags (most likely of the regime's IRGC Basij members) are booed & people begin chanting: "Shame on you!"pic.twitter.com/TOz6YutDr1

— Heshmat Alavi (@HeshmatAlavi) January 12, 2020

In Alavi’s videos below, students at Iran’s Damghan University call on Ayatollah Khamenei to resign and Beheshti students shout that the IRGC is “their” ISIS. Alavi notes that, “The Iranian people know the Mullah’s regime and its oppressive security forces are their enemy.”

Jan 12 – Tehran, #Iran
Iran National (Beheshti) University
"Basijis, IRGC, you are our ISIS!"

The Iranian people know the mullahs' regime & its oppressive security forces are their enemy.#IranProtestspic.twitter.com/1x7c5FmabJ

— Heshmat Alavi (@HeshmatAlavi) January 12, 2020

A second Iranian journalist, M. Hanif Jazayeri, based in London, posts additional videos of the protests below. He notes that these videos were made available to him by members of MEK, the Mujahedin e-Khalq, which is currently Iran’s largest opposition group with approximately 3,400 members. Based in rural Albania, MEK has been “preparing for the overthrow of the clerical regime for several years.” (I posted about this group here.)

Most chants at the latest #IranProtests target the Supreme Leader himself.

"Students are alert. They detest Seyed Ali [Khamenei]"

(via activists of Iran's largest opposition group, the MEK, in Tehran's Azad University, Jan 12) #FreeIran2020@davereaboi @RichardGrenell @cvpayne pic.twitter.com/CIwDU89F1X

— M. Hanif Jazayeri (@HanifJazayeri) January 12, 2020

President Trump is clearly watching these protests closely. This morning, he called upon the regime not to kill their protestors. He warns that the world is watching.

To the leaders of Iran – DO NOT KILL YOUR PROTESTERS. Thousands have already been killed or imprisoned by you, and the World is watching. More importantly, the USA is watching. Turn your internet back on and let reporters roam free! Stop the killing of your great Iranian people!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2020

Since the killing of Soleimani on January 3, as I posted earlier, Iran has been thrust onto the world stage. I wrote:

All of this may present a dilemma for Democrats who will find themselves torn between their newfound support for the clerical regime’s leaders and their ability to recognize the suffering these “sympathetic” figures have inflicted on the Iranian people.

The left has overwhelmingly condemned President Trump’s decision to kill terrorist Qassem Soleimani. Unanimously, Democrats claim that he had no right to order the strike. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi herself said that killing Soleimani would be like killing the second most important person in the USA.

The same ruthless men whom the Democrats have legitimized over the last week murdered 1,500 (according to Reuters) of their own citizens during the November protests. And refused to release the bodies of the dead unless the families promised not to hold funerals. And shut down the internet for five days afterward.

The Iranian people, who live the reality of the mullahs’ cruelty and repression every day, are growing restless. After new protests broke out on Saturday night, President Trump tweeted (in Farsi) a message of encouragement and support to the protestors. According to The Washington Examiner, it was the “most liked Persian tweet’ in the history of Twitter.

His message read: “To the brave and suffering Iranian people: I have stood with you since the beginning of my presidency and my government will continue to stand with you. We are following your protests closely. Your courage is inspiring,”

The encouragement of the US President is important to the protestors. Life in Iran may have been completely different today if President Obama had supported the Iranian protestors in 2009.

Is this for real? What will Iran’s leaders do? All eyes are on the country today, an unusual situation for Iran to be sure. After 40 years of clerical rule, young Iranians are calling out for change. Is this the start of a new revolution? Or will it be crushed? We’ll have to keep watching.