It Gets Worse, Iran Edition
"...the Tabas earthquake on September 16 killed as many as 15,000 people, possibly more. The junta's response was anemic, sclerotic, and disinterested; it only further agitated protestors, who poured out into the streets. The regime responded with deploying tanks to patrol Tehran's city streets, further fortifying the city and aggressively beating and rounding up dissidents. When this move extended to well-known clerics, the Ayatollahs responded with outrage, most prominently Khomeini in Iraq..."
- Iran on the Precipice
"...Jahanbani was smooth, he was a really good pitchman for the regime. Flawless English, handsome, casually charismatic. He really helped paper over a lot of atrocities going on in Iran at the time, and was a key part of the pressure campaign to keep Khomeini stuck in Iraq, pressuring Western governments not to accept the spiritual leader many protestors looked to from going somewhere where he might have even more reach. He leaned on Saddam Hussein, Iraq's dictator at the time, to keep Khomeini under close guard. The pressure was just building and building and building..."
- William Scranton, former UN Ambassador
- Iran on the Precipice
"...Jahanbani was smooth, he was a really good pitchman for the regime. Flawless English, handsome, casually charismatic. He really helped paper over a lot of atrocities going on in Iran at the time, and was a key part of the pressure campaign to keep Khomeini stuck in Iraq, pressuring Western governments not to accept the spiritual leader many protestors looked to from going somewhere where he might have even more reach. He leaned on Saddam Hussein, Iraq's dictator at the time, to keep Khomeini under close guard. The pressure was just building and building and building..."
- William Scranton, former UN Ambassador