Mohammad Eslami and Ibrahim al-Marashi write:

Israel appears to have forgotten a lesson from the Iraqi invasion of Iran in 1980. Instead of inducing regime change, it led to the people of Iran rallying behind the Islamic Republic in the name of nationalism, not necessarily out of love for the clerical elite.

Rather than fuelling internal dissent, Israel’s recent strikes have similarly sparked a resurgence of nationalist feeling – centred not on support for the regime, but on defence of the nation.

There have been public mourning ceremonies and online tributes. Even some of those once aligned with the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement have begun expressing solidarity with those they now frame as “defenders of the homeland”.

In working-class neighbourhoods and rural areas, where opposition movements had struggled to gain a foothold, such sentiments are even stronger.

Israel’s attempt to divide the Iranian people from their state has, at least for now, backfired. The dominant reaction inside Iran has not been jubilation or uprising, but a rallying around the flag – a phenomenon familiar to those who study the mechanics of national trauma and external threat.

The targeting of high-ranking officials, far from emboldening calls for regime change, has been interpreted by many Iranians as a direct assault on national sovereignty. [Continue reading…]