The two authors – both Iranian nationals – are senior journalists specialising in the Middle East. They wrote this book in response to the expert opinions we read in the media. There is a considerable gap between analysis and reality. The Islamic dictatorship that has been in place since 1979 operates solely through extreme violence. It is a regime that is afraid of everything: afraid of freedom, afraid of women…
In 2022, the death of Mahsa Amini and the slogan “Woman, Life, Freedom” showed that the Iranian people have nothing left to lose. In Iran, rising prices, the collapse of purchasing power and the environmental crisis are the direct consequences of a mafia-like regime based on corruption, predation and repression. The Iranians are not asking for reform of the regime; they want it to disappear. This is an insurrection against a totalitarian and sclerotic system.
Many Iranians do not understand why we watch them fall in silence… and why we react so little, so late and so weakly.
Iran’s youth no longer want this closed-off system. Bloomberg conducted an investigation that shed a harsh light on the financial empire – controlled by the ruling structure – built on the confiscation of property. It represents assets worth billions of dollars.
These financial realities – which, beyond their illicit nature – contrast, to say the least, with the image of piety and austerity promoted by the state media and the power of the Ayatollah and his family.
This book is a lesson in history, geopolitics and humanity.
Emmanuel Razavi contributes to the international editorial teams of Le Figaro, Paris Match, Franc-Tireur, Atlantico…
Jean-Marie Montali was Executive Director of Le Figaro Magazine and Le Parisien. They are the authors of
several books on the Middle East
Michel Gabet