Iran\u2019s leadership is increasingly worried a US strike could break its grip on power by driving an already enraged public back onto the streets, following a bloody crackdown on anti-government protests, according to six current and former officials. In high-level meetings, officials told Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that public anger over last month\u2019s crackdown \u2014 the bloodiest since the 1979 revolution \u2014 has reached a point where fear is no longer a deterrent, four current officials briefed on the discussions said. The officials said Khamenei was told that many Iranians were prepared to confront security forces again and that external pressure such as a limited US strike could embolden them and inflict irreparable damage to the political establishment. One of the officials told Reuters that Iran\u2019s enemies were seeking more protests so as to bring the Islamic Republic to an end, and \u201cunfortunately\u201d there would be more violence if an uprising took place. \u201cAn attack combined with demonstrations by angry people could lead to a collapse (of the ruling system). That is the main concern among the top officials, and that is what our enemies want,\u201d said the official, who like the other officials contacted for this story declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter. The reported remarks are significant because they suggest private misgivings inside the leadership at odds with Tehran\u2019s defiant public stance towards the protesters and the US. The sources declined to say how Khamenei responded. Iran\u2019s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on this account of the meetings. Multiple sources told Reuters last week that US President Donald Trump is weighing options against Iran that include targeted strikes on security forces and leaders to inspire protesters, even as Israeli and Arab officials said air power alone would not topple the clerical rulers. People extremely angry Any such uprising in the wake of a US strike would stand in contrast to the Iranians\u2019 response to Israeli and US bombing attacks on Iran\u2019s nuclear programme back in June, which was not followed by anti-government demonstrations. But a former senior moderate official said the situation had changed since the crackdown in early January. \u201cPeople are extremely angry,\u201d he said, adding a US attack could lead Iranians to rise up again. \u201cThe wall of fear has collapsed. There is no fear left.\u201d Tensions between Tehran and Washington are running high. The arrival of a US aircraft carrier and supporting warships in the Middle East has expanded Trump\u2019s ability to take military action if he so wishes, after repeatedly threatening intervention over Iran\u2019s bloody crackdown. Game over, says former PM Several opposition figures, who were part of the establishment before falling out with it, have warned the leadership that \u201cboiling public anger\u201d could result in a collapse of the system. \u201cThe river of warm blood that was spilled on the cold month of January will not stop boiling until it changes the course of history,\u201d former prime minister Mirhossein Mousavi, who has been under house arrest without trial since 2011, said in a statement published by the pro-reform Kalameh website. \u201cIn what language should people say they do not want this system and do not believe your lies? Enough is enough. The game is over\u2019,\u201d Mousavi added in the statement. During the early January protests, witnesses and rights groups said, security forces crushed demonstrations with lethal force, leaving thousands killed and many wounded. Tehran blamed the violence on \u201carmed terrorists\u201d linked to Israel and the US. Trump stopped short of carrying out threats to intervene but he has since demanded Iran make nuclear concessions. Both Tehran and Washington have signalled readiness to revive diplomacy over a long-running nuclear dispute. Danger of bloodshed Analysts and insiders say that while the streets are quiet for now, deep-seated grievances have not gone away. Public frustration has been simmering over economic decline, political repression, a widening gulf between rich and poor, and entrenched corruption that leaves many Iranians feeling trapped in a system offering neither relief nor a path forward. \u201cThis may not be the end, but it is no longer just the beginning,\u201d said Hossein Rassam, a London-based analyst. If protests resume during mounting foreign pressure and security forces respond with force, the six current and former officials said they fear demonstrators would be bolder than in previous unrest, emboldened by experience and driven by a sense that they have little left to lose. One of the officials told Reuters that while people were angrier than before, the establishment would use harsher methods against protesters if it were under US attack. He said the result would be a bloodbath. Ordinary Iranians contacted by Reuters said they expected Iran\u2019s rulers to crack down hard on any further protests. A Tehran resident whose 15-year-old son was killed in the protests on January 9 said the demonstrators had merely sought a normal life, and had been answered \u201cwith bullets.\u201d \u201cIf America attacks, I will go back to the streets to take revenge for my son and the children this regime killed.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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