A Washington Post reporter visited the city of Isfahan in Iran and discovered few people prepared to recommend to Iraqis a government like theirs. In fact the open hostility they expressed toward Iranian authorities was quite remarkable.
More remarkable still is the incident described at the end of the Post article:
The previous evening… a slender young man brandishing a cigarette and a threatening air identified himself as a member of the Basij, an ardent pro-government militia. When no one heeded his demands for papers, the militiaman stalked away, declaring he would call the police.
Torabi, the office-supply salesman, watched him go.
“That,” he said, “is why we had a revolution.”
When people are unafraid to refuse a government thug’s demands, something is stirring in the Islamic Republic.
