Fmr. Political Prisoner in Iran: ‘What a Tyrannical System’

EXCERPT:

TAJBAKHSH: “So they’re not going to come out into the street to demand the government capitulate to the United States or come to, or to give severe concessions so that we can go back to normal. So I don’t see, I don’t see at the moment the possibility that the Iranian people are going to rise up and confront the regime at the moment, but I would say that, within about six months to eight months, with this economic pressure, there is growing unemployment, there is growing inflation. I speak to family throughout the week when we can get through. Yes, and friends and family. It’s sporadic because, you know, they’ve closed down the internet for more than a month, which is pretty amazing. What a tyrannical system. But — so, it’s very difficult to get information about how people are really coping. But I think that for a lot of people inside Iran, what the government will do is they will use their reserves, they will use smuggling and a lot of kind of hidden money to pay off people and to subsidize a lot of the goods and services.”