Following the killing of Mahsa Amini in September, women’s rights protests have sprung up in Iran. While the protests have gathered millions nationwide, the Iranian regime is fighting back, not hesitating to execute protestors. Two men were hanged for allegedly killing one of the security forces, which brings the execution toll of the protests up to 4 (504 people have been killed overall by security forces). Iran’s strict rules surrounding women and human rights violations following the protests have led to condemnation from the EU, the US, and other Western nations. Germany is one of the many countries that have begun to sanction Iran but warns there will be more if Iran doesn’t bring this to an end soon. The German government stated, “Together with our international partners, we will increase the pressure further on the Iranian regime.” Germany has also proposed upping the sanctions and is attempting to garner the agreement of the rest of the EU.
The reaction that the world has had to Iran’s Morality Police’s behavior is completely justified– countries that cannot respect women’s autonomy should not have a say in international decisions. It is interesting to see that even in a country with as repressive as regime as Iran’s, people still have the courage to protest. In a country where the people have a higher threshold of what actions the government can take before people will protest, the fact that millions of Iranians are showing their displeasure with the regime shows how unhappy they truly are. While the movement in Iran is unlikely to topple the regime, there have already been significant changes for women in Iran. They can go in public without a hijab, and the morality police have been disbanded.
This conflict sort of reminds me of offensive/defensive realism and the dilemma of whether or not conquest pays. Holding over a volatile population that isn’t happy about the regime is more trouble than it’s worth, and is a large time and money investment. Iran’s government seems to be realizing this, that the investment of the morality police and all this nonsense can do nothing but cause protests and get them sanctioned by the rest of the world.
