Iran Blames Maryam Rajavi and MEK for the Uprising 10 January 2018 As the protests in Iran began, some compared them to those that occurred in 2009. However, these protests differ in in their message. The cause for the 2009 protests was a rift within the regime. Now, the people are demanding an end to the regime. On the streets this week slogans against velayat-e faqih (absolute clerical rule) and against the regime’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, as well as President, Hassan Rouhani were heard. In her  article  for the Wall Street Journal, Maryam Rajavi, president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, an Iranian opposition coalition based in Paris, writes that, “This dispels the myth, still harbored by some governments, that Iranians distinguish between moderates and hard-liners in Tehran. It also undercuts flawed arguments depicting a stable regime.” Iran’s economy is in trouble, and many of its people live in poverty. Meanwhile, according to reports o...