Trump threatens Iran as country cracks down on protesters

Trump threatens Iran as country cracks down on protesters Trump threatens Iran as country cracks down on protesters President Trump has threatened Iran amid a deadly crackdown on protesters. NPR's Leila Fadel speaks to Holly Dagres of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy about the protests. LEILA FADEL, HOST: Holly Dagres has been following the protests in Iran, grew up in Iran and is a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. She also curates a weekly newsletter called The Iranist and she joins me now. Good morning, and welcome to the program. HOLLY DAGRES: Thank you for having me. FADEL: You know, Holly, I just want to start by asking you about your family in Iran with the communications blackout. When was the last you heard from them? Do you know how they are? DAGRES: Well, the communications blackout started on Thursday night in Iran. And so it's basically been Thursday since we've heard from them, and it's not just me. It's Iranians across the diaspora around the world. I know that some people have been able to get a hold of their families and friends. There's been messages pouring in from Starlink if you have a friend, a neighbor or a family member, but that's only 50- to 60,000 users across a country of 90 million. So effectively, much of the country, we don't know what's happening inside, and we're all relying on Starlink. FADEL: This moment - these mass protests, do these feel different than what we've seen before? You know, given that Iran has been weakened on the global stage - its regional militias that it backs, Hezbollah, Hamas, have been severely decimated. I mean, and now the U.S. is threatening to strike because of Iran's deadly crackdown on protests. Does it feel different? DAGRES: We say this every time there's a protest that it's different, but you highlighted very eloquently why it is this time because of those issues from the outside. And I would say that, really, the sword of Damocles is hanging over the head of the Islamic Republic, and that's the United States and Israel and whether they are planning to act. But I think it's important to note that since 2022, the Woman, Life, Freedom uprising, I mean, and even before it, there's this - a consistent call for the overthrow of the Islamic Republic. And it's evident through the chants of the people because there's a sense that the systemic mismanagement, corruption and repression is not going to change. It - the regime is irredeemable and irreformable. And it's not something that I just say, but we have activists on the ground, like Nobel Laureate Narges Mohammadi, who is now in solitary confinement, who said that this is really, right now, a fight between the survivalists of the regime and the overthrowers of the regime. So I think it's important to note that where we're at in terms of how the people inside the country feel....

Preview: ~500 words