Iran in UTTER PANIC as PROTESTS SWEEP Across ENTIRE NATION. What’s being described online as chaos is actually a far more complex and dangerous reality, where protests, crackdowns, and silence collide in a tense standoff that is gripping the entire nation👇

The Iranian people are officially calling the regime’s bluff.

Despite terrifying threats of a brutal crackdown and shoot to kill orders from paranoid security forces, Iranians just flooded the streets to celebrate the ancient festival of fire.

For the collapsing regime, this is a terrifying situation because it’s worried that this nationwide celebration is secretly the spark for a massive unstoppable revolution.

And that’s why ever since this war started, the regime has been texting Iranians daily with the same message.

If you take to the streets, the blow will be harder than what happened in January when the regime killed tens of thousands of its own people just for protesting.

The regime does not want a repeat of January when millions demanded a regime change.

And that’s why IRGC and besiege forces have set up security checkpoints across the country.

In fact, one Iranian woman told BBC that she’s too afraid to wear colorful clothes because it might annoy the security people.

That’s how scared the regime is.

They don’t want people wearing bright colors.

And last night was one of the most dangerous night from the regime’s perspective.

It was Shahar Shabban Shuri, which is the festival of fire in Iran.

A long-standing Persian tradition where Iranians take to the streets, dance, chant, and celebrate.

The regime was adamant no one should go outside.

They were terrified that this celebration could snowball into something bigger like what happened in January.

If you guys remember, the January protest initially were not about regime change.

They were about economic pains that people were going through because of corruption in the system.

But very quickly that turned into a nationwide revolution that wanted to change the regime.

Well, that’s exactly what the Islamic regime doesn’t want happening.

And that’s why they were warning people ahead of time, don’t take to the streets.

But despite the warning, people went out.

Take a look.

This happened across the country.

And in fact in Thran we saw some of the biggest crowds we have seen since January.

Take a look.

Now one thing I do want to note here.

We do not have a lot of footage coming out of Iran.

That’s because of internet restrictions.

They have gotten extremely severe over the past few days.

The regime is also cracking down on people who are selling unfiltered internet access, which is a risky service.

And on top of that, it’s an expensive service that young Iranians are providing, people who are techsavvy.

Because of this crackdown, most people inside Iran just cannot communicate with the outside world.

That means we cannot see the videos and we are limited as to what information that’s coming out.

But what we are seeing is disturbing.

Last night, reports indicated that clashes between security forces and citizens celebrating in Thran happened in the main square.

There was also sound of gunfire.

Take a listen.

In this clip, the person recording says, “I think they’re shooting at someone.

” And then you can hear what sounds like gunshots in the background.

This is exactly what security forces have been warning about all this time.

The Iranian police chief himself actually went on state TV every single night since the war started and told people that the security forces have their trigger on the finger, meaning they are not afraid to shoot.

Now, there was hope, especially for people outside the realm, that this festival of fire could turn into day one of a new protest movement like what happened in January.

But unfortunately, from what we are seeing, I don’t think that’s going to happen, especially not yet because security forces just have too strong of a grip on the country.

People are too afraid to risk their lives.

But the fact that they came out at all, despite all the threats, despite the checkpoints, and despite text messages, does tell us something.

If protests do start, we’ll be the first one to update you guys.

What we are seeing is Israeli drone forces going after regime members and specifically security forces on the streets.

Because of this, we are seeing security forces falling apart a little bit, but it’s nowhere close to the extent some people are making it out to be on social media.

We have seen some clips of drones striking security forces on the streets when they set up checkpoints.

And because of that, some of the checkpoints have moved under bridges to avoid these strikes.

Some people are sleeping in the streets.

They are running away as soon as they hear drone sounds.

But we have to remember, guys, besiege force alone has like 3 to 600,000 people.

So, I’m not saying that two to four security forces that are getting killed in these Israeli drone strikes don’t make a difference, but we still have to keep in mind that Iran’s internal security apparatus is massive.

And that means the Iranian people rightfully so are afraid to start protesting despite what we are seeing happen on the streets.

Now, yesterday we also covered the killing of Ali Larzani, the de facto leader of Iran.

Well, after I made that video, we had first official comments from the Iranian government after their leader died.

And here’s what the Iranian foreign minister said.

Take a listen.

>> Ali Hasham has conducted an exclusive interview with Iran’s foreign minister.

Abasaraki says the killing of his country’s top security official, Ali Larijani, will not set back the Iranian government.

>> Well, >> I do not know why the Americans and the Israelis still have not understood this point.

The Islamic Republic of Iran has a strong political structure with established political, economic and social institutions.

The presence or absence of a single individual does not affect this structure.

Of course, individuals are influential and each person plays their role.

Some better, some worse, some less.

But what matters is that the political system in Iran is a very solid structure.

Now, despite what the Iranian foreign minister is willing to admit, the assassination is having somewhat of an impact inside of Iran.

And what I mean is that it’s affecting the top leadership.

We are getting some unconfirmed reports.

That’s important to point out here cuz it’s not just Iran that’s spreading misinformation.

There are also people who don’t like the regime who are also spreading misinformation and we want to be careful from that point of view, too.

But some reports are telling us that the Iranian president is reportedly telling foreign counterparts, including leaders in Turkey and Russia, that he has no authority inside Iran.

He’s basically saying that he has no leadership, no control over the system.

In a way, he’s indirectly letting the world know that nothing will change if he’s taken out because he really doesn’t have any power.

Now, this is something we mentioned already.

He actually does not have a lot of power in the current system because even before this war started, even before the 12-day war last year, we knew this this person, the Iranian president was one of the moderates in the regime, which is well known even before everything started.

Cuz I know we’re seeing this media campaign basically telling us that anyone who’s assassinated is a moderate.

Most of the time that’s actually not true.

That’s like a label that media is trying to put on a lot of Iranian leaders after they’ve been assassinated.

But the president in fact is one of the moderates in the regime.

And guess what? Because of that, we saw the US State Department put out like a wanted list where they’re giving out $10 million to anyone who’s willing to provide information on Iranian leaders.

And the Iranian president was actually not on that wanted list because US State Department does not consider him one of the targets of this operation.

And I’m guessing it’s unlikely that even Israel would go after him.

Now, of course, if we know all this, you can probably assume that the Iranian leaders know this too.

And that’s exactly why even though he is the president, elected president, by the way, he does not have that much power.

And now, finally, we have a message, an update from Central Command’s Admiral Brad Cooper.

He usually gives these every few days, and we usually show you guys the whole thing.

I think today we are actually a day late.

This came out a day ago or something like that, but here is his full update.

Hi, I’m Admiral Brad Cooper, the commander of US Central Command, here to provide another update on Operation Epic Fury.

First, I want to remember and honor our fallen warriors who made the ultimate sacrifice in the KC135 refueling aircraft incident last week.

We hold their memories and their families, their friends, and their teammates in our prayers.

Their selfless service and dedication hardens our resolve.

For 16 days, we’ve delivered overwhelming firepower deep into Iran.

This past Friday, US forces executed a large-scale precision strike on Carg Island, destroying more than 90 Iranian military targets, including storage bunkers for naval mines and missiles and other military infrastructure.

To date, our Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps aviators have collectively flown more than 6,000 combat flights, demonstrating the unmatched capability of America’s joint force as we maintain air superiority over Iranian skies.

We continue to remain centered on our military objectives.

These are well- definfined and include eliminating Iran’s ballistic missiles, drones, and naval threats.

It’s one thing to defend by striking launchers and intercepting missiles and drones, but it’s another thing to eliminate the wider manufacturing apparatus behind them.

And we are doing that today.

We’ve talked about it in concept.

Here’s what it looks like in reality.

Let me show you for the first time a few examples of how we are dismantling Iran’s defense industrial base which will prevent threats to the region into the future.

Here you see a photo from March 1st of a naval drone storage facility located near the straight of Hormuz.

This is the same location 8 days later completely destroyed.

Next, here’s a photo taken of an attack drone production factory in Tran on March 5th.

Here’s that same factory 6 days later after a devastating barrage of US air strikes.

And finally, the Yazdi military depot pictured here last month.

These eight buildings are part of the IRGC’s missile command infrastructure and are used to produce light and heavyweight torpedoes.

Now, here’s that same military depot just last week, or what’s left of it.

US and partner strikes are doing exactly what they intended to do.

deliver on very clear military objectives to eliminate Iran’s ability to project power against Americans and against its neighbors.

We’re also zeroed in on dismantling Iran’s decades old threat to the free flow of commerce through the Strait of Hormuz through a combination of air, land, and maritime capabilities.

We have successfully destroyed over a 100 Iranian naval vessels.

And we aren’t done.

We will continue to rapidly deplete Iran’s ability to threaten freedom of navigation in and around the straight of Hormuz.

Our progress remains steady and we remain vigilant against the enemy.

Now, a few thoughts about Iran.

Over the last two weeks, they have launched attacks on Oman, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Cyprus, Turkey, Azarbaijan, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Iraq, Kuwait, and Bahrain.

In each of these countries, they are deliberately attacking innocent civilians.

They’ve done this more than 300 times, which demonstrates their true nature as a global leader of terror.

In just the last few days, the Iranian regime launched a reckless attack against civilian neighborhoods in Tel Aviv with cluster bombs, an inherently indiscriminate type of munition.

We join countries across the region in condemning this aggression, and we stand shoulderto-shoulder with our partners in bolstering our own defenses.

In some I will reinforce what I’ve said before.

Iran’s capabilities are declining as our capabilities and advantages continue to build.

And finally, I’d like to talk about the extraordinary 50,000 Americans who are deployed across the region executing this vital mission.

It’s long been my belief that every success we have begins and ends with our people.

And today, I’d like to recognize our unsung heroes, the sustainers enabling America’s joint force to unleash this devastating firepower 247.

To be clear, there’s no other military on Earth that does logistics like the US military.

And our team is at the top of their game today.

They’re managing distribution networks that span thousands of miles to ensure that munitions, fuel, and supplies reach war fighters on the front line on time, every time.

To all our sustainers and logisticians, thank you and keep up the great work.

And to the entire Operation Epic Fury team, keep pushing, remain steady, fight to win.

Thanks so much and Godspeed.