Protests in Iran, earlier this year
Protests in Iran, earlier this yearIsrael news photo: (file)

Iran's annual Quds Day – a national “holiday” of anti-Israel rallies and speeches – has taken a new turn this year, with protesters shouting down the Iranian regime instead of the Jewish state. According to Israel National News sources in Iran, hundreds of thousands have joined in calls against Iran's leadership.

In Shiraz, protesters who were encouraged to shout “Down with Israel” instead shouted “Down with Russia” (“Marg bar Russie”). Russia has been accused of supporting Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in exchange for rights along the Caspian Sea, and of helping Ahmadinejad suppress his opponents.

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The demonstrators also yelled, “Not for Gaza, not for Lebanon – let my life be sacrificed for Iran.”

Similar outbursts of opposition to the regime were reported in Isfahan, Tehran, and Tabriz Uremia.

Iranian dissidents had encouraged popular resistance on Quds Day in order to inspire renewed protests against the regime. Opponents of Ahmadinejad held massive rallies and riots throughout Iran following Iran's national elections, which they claimed were rigged. However, the rallies died out as Iranian leaders responded with violence, killing dozens of protesters and jailing several hundreds, many of whom were reportedly raped and tortured.

The killings and alleged brutality succeeded in quelling the protests, at least temporarily, but aroused additional opposition to the regime, as even normally pro-government media outlets began to question the use of violence.