Amid intensifying protests in Iran, the world’s richest man has weighed in.
On January 4, Elon Musk, the multi-billionaire proprietor of social media platform X, responded to a publish by Iran’s Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that stated “we won’t give in to the enemy” by suggesting in Farsi that he was delusional.
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Then, on Saturday, Musk’s platform X modified the Iranian flag emoji on the positioning from the one used because the Islamic revolution in 1979 to the pre-revolution flag that includes a lion and solar.
Some demonstrators inside and out of doors of Iran have waved the pre-1979 flag as a protest in opposition to the present regime.
Musk’s strikes have gained some assist from critics of the regime in Tehran. Nevertheless, analysts debate the extent to which such strikes can have an effect on the bottom in Iran.
What’s behind the protests?
Protests in Iran started on December 28 amid hovering inflation within the nation. They’ve since unfold to greater than 100 cities and cities, and are actually reportedly going down in each province within the nation.
“The main focus of the protests is on the core of the state and governance of the nation as a result of political, financial, social, cultural, and even environmental insurance policies haven’t labored for [protesters],” Negar Mortazavi, a senior fellow on the Heart for Worldwide Coverage, advised Al Jazeera. “Economics, although, was the beginning of it.”
Lots of the protesters are calling for an finish to the rule of the nation’s ayatollahs who, together with their Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), took over after the 1979 revolution.
Khamenei, the present supreme chief, has led the nation since 1989. And whereas his rule has survived a variety of waves of unrest, together with the mass “Girls, Life, Freedom” protests of 2022, some analysts imagine that the most recent demonstrations are among the many greatest challenges his regime has confronted.
“The Trump administration’s resolution to stop the Iran nuclear deal in 2018 and reimpose sanctions – and its failure to succeed in a brand new take care of Iran final 12 months – have crippled the financial system and elevated corruption, benefitting a small sanctions-busting elite,” stated Barbara Slavin, a distinguished fellow on the Stimson Heart in Washington and a lecturer in worldwide affairs at George Washington College.
“Add to that the extreme blows inflicted on Iran’s regional allies since October 7, 2023, the Israeli and US strikes final summer time, and it’s laborious to see a means out [for the regime].”
The Iranian regime has enforced an web blackout within the nation since Thursday, although some movies have nonetheless managed to flow into on-line of masked protesters clashing with safety forces in Iranian cities.
The semiofficial information company Tasnim reported on Sunday that the variety of safety personnel killed has reached 109. Opposition activists say the loss of life toll is greater and consists of dozens of protesters.
Al Jazeera can not independently confirm the figures popping out of Iran.
In the meantime, US President Donald Trump has threatened to intervene if the authorities kill extra protesters.
Enter Elon
Musk, a longtime tech mogul heading US government-supported corporations together with Tesla and SpaceX, left a role with the Trump administration, the place he led the so-called Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE), in late Could.
Musk’s work with DOGE was extensively criticised, although his buy of social media platform X and vocal support for racist policies have additionally attracted widespread condemnation lately.
Immediately, Musk is extra targeted on his non-public companies, although he nonetheless wades into politics occasionally, significantly to push right-wing conspiracy theories about “white genocide” and immigration.
As for Iran, throughout the 2022 “Girls, Life, Freedom” protests and once more in 2025’s 12-Day War – which killed greater than 610 folks in Iran and 28 in Israel – Musk offered web entry to folks contained in the nation by means of his satellite tv for pc service Starlink.
Iran has reportedly jammed Starlink indicators throughout the newest protests.
“The state makes use of web disruption and shutdown to stop extra mobilisation of protesters and communication between protest teams and in addition to stop information of it spreading,” Mortazavi stated.
“It nonetheless occurs with a delay when the web comes again on, however what it does is hamper mobilisation and slows down the method of the protests. That’s the primary objective of a comms shutdown.”
That is the place Starlink might be significantly helpful. However analysts say Musk responding to Khamenei’s publish and altering the flag on X usually are not probably pushed by ideology.
“I doubt he cares about Iran per se,” stated Slavin. “However he needs to gin up extra visitors for X, and that is one option to do it.”
How helpful are Musk’s newest interventions?
The change of Iran’s flag on X got here amid the web blackout, so many protesters on the bottom have been probably unable to see it. Some Iranian officers, nevertheless, have been briefly considered by these outdoors the nation with the pre-Islamic Republic flags of their account profiles.
“It’s a digital model of conquering a constructing and knocking down the outdated flag, and making an attempt to place a brand new flag, that was primarily the symbolising they have been going for,” historian Reza H Akbari, who can be an analyst on Iran on the Institute for Conflict and Peace Reporting, advised Al Jazeera.
“The facility of these kind of strikes are fairly readily contested in mid- and long-term results,” stated Akbari. “Nevertheless it may present momentary pleasure [for protesters on the ground if they can see it] although it’s very laborious to gauge the quantity of common assist.”
Slavin advised Al Jazeera that “what is occurring outdoors Iran will not be that related” to what’s going down contained in the nation.
“The true battle for freedom is amongst Iranians remains to be in Iran, not the diaspora or others within the matter,” she stated.
“They will amplify developments inside Iran and specific assist for human rights, however we can not decide the result of the battle.”
A ‘contentious’ flag
In the meantime, Akbari says the pre-1979 flag “has at all times been contentious, primarily as a logo for opposition each contained in the nation and overseas”.
He added that whereas the flag might imply various things to completely different critics of the present Iranian authorities, it’s typically related to “the opposition that identifies as monarchist or needs the return of the shah”, who was deposed in 1979.
Throughout latest protests, the ousted shah’s son, Reza Pahlavi, referred to as on demonstrators to take to the streets and occupy Iranian cities.
Some protesters, together with these outdoors Iran, have referred to as for a return to rule by the shah, despite his questionable popularity. Akbari stated that Pahlavi himself has supplied to behave as a transitional chief however will not be trying to transfer completely to Iran to rule the nation.
Analysts agree that Pahlavi wouldn’t be the person to guide the nation ahead, ought to Iran’s Islamic Republic fall after 47 years in energy.
“Immediately, there are a lot of respectable and succesful folks in Iran who may change these in energy. Sadly, most of them are in jail,” Slavin stated.
“The son of the shah, in the meantime, lives comfortably in a mansion in Potomac [in the US state of Maryland]. It’s laborious to see what he provides in the best way of sensible change.”
