Thread
See new Tweets
Conversation
Yashar Ali 🐘
@yashar
1. This AM I woke up to dozens of messages from family/friends in Iran
Right now, Iran is a tinderbox internally. As some of you know, there are protests mostly around the anger that Iranians feel towards the gov after they admitted IRGC shot down the Ukraine Airlines aircraft
12:54 AM · Jan 12, 2020·Twitter Web Client
13.9K
Retweets
37.8K
Likes
Yashar Ali 🐘
@yashar
·
18h
Replying to
@yashar
2. Iranians who are protesting and all the family/friends I spoke to (who live in different parts of Iran) are furious that they were lied to for three days about the cause of the plane crash. The Iranian government lied left and right about where the plane was headed
Yashar Ali 🐘
@yashar
·
18h
3. What brought down the plane. The Iranian government completely mishandled the plane crash, destroying evidence in the process. Iranians are in the street calling for death to the Supreme Leader (something that could get them executed).
Yashar Ali 🐘
@yashar
·
18h
4. Iranians are in the street calling for prosecutions, saying Soleimani is a murderer. Telling leadership of the Iranian government to resign and saying that Trump isn't the problem, that the Iranian government is.
To say that these protesters are brave is an understatement
Yashar Ali 🐘
@yashar
·
18h
5. Nearly 2 months ago, Iran massacred hundreds (at least) and up to 1,500 of its citizens in the streets for protesting against gas prices. People in the streets are taking an enormous risk not only by protesting but by saying what they're saying like death to the Supreme Leader
Yashar Ali 🐘
@yashar
·
18h
6. I'm told that there will be expanded protests Sunday night in Iran (these things are always subject to change, particularly with intimidation from the government). So the question is what kind of support are the Iranian people going to get from the external world?
Yashar Ali 🐘
@yashar
·
18h
7. Yesterday I tweeted this thread and was criticized by liberals who are intent on blaming this plane crash on President Trump. As I note in my thread, the idea that he's to blame for a decision the IRGC made is just absurd.
Quote Tweet
Yashar Ali 🐘
@yashar
· Jan 10
The idea that the US is to blame for the Iranian military shooting down a civilian plane in its own airspace is patently absurd. Mistakes happen...but the fog of war is not to blame here. And the Iranians need to take responsibility for not shutting down civilian air traffic
https://twitter.com/JZarif/status/1215847283381755914Show this thread
Yashar Ali 🐘
@yashar
·
18h
8. And while Iranians aren't a monolith and there are 80 million people in Iran, you don't see Iranians blaming President Trump for the cash (in which Iranian citizens were killed). They're blaming the IRGC and the Supreme Leader for a series of horrific mistakes
Yashar Ali 🐘
@yashar
·
18h
9. I've gone through some of the most active and prominent liberal Twitter accounts and none of them mentioned the Iran protests today. These same people were actively tweeting about wanting to avoid war and attacking Trump for his decision.
What happened?
Yashar Ali 🐘
@yashar
·
18h
10. And that's why I tweeted this earlier today. In this context, Iranians are being used by certain people on the left (i didn't say all) as a tool to attack President Trump. But these same people don't seem to care to to support their right to protest?
Quote Tweet
Yashar Ali 🐘
@yashar
· Jan 11
Right now the right and left are both using Iran and Iranians for their domestic political purposes and it’s quite disgusting.
Yashar Ali 🐘
@yashar
·
18h
11. It seems to me the protests were inconvenient for some of these folks today. They were placing the blame on the Iranian leadership who lied repeatedly about what happened. They weren't blaming President Trump...so it wasn't worth it to bring attention to or support them?it
