Arron Reza Merat was a correspondent in Tehran. He now lives in London.
Amid an internet blackout, reports describe waves of catastrophic violence across Iran. Yet the ruling order remains firmly in control, even as an economic crisis erodes the welfare systems that once underpinned its legitimacy.
The protests sweeping through Iran are not the first of their kind. But the threat of a continuation of the Israel-US war has led Tehran to see them as an existential threat.
Donald Trump is once again threatening war with Iran just six months after bombing the Islamic Republic in June. Part of the reason for his hawkishness is his closeness to Israel, whose increasingly reckless actions threaten the whole Middle East.
Evangelical Christian Zionism used to be one of the most coherent voting blocs in the US. But cracks are starting to appear in this coalition as its members grow disillusioned with Israel and enamored by Christian nationalism.
Iran has long held that conflict with Israel can be managed by limiting its retaliation within clearly defined parameters. But through its preemptive attack, Israel has revealed that it is not a rational actor and upended the rules of war.
Sanctioned, isolated, and living under a neoliberal state seemingly out of options, Iranians go to the polls today.