Iran due for ‘Iranian Spring’ next year, Liberman says

The economic sanctions imposed on Iran by the West are having a far greater effect than is generally believed and the result could be a popular uprising in 2013, said Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman on Sunday.

Basing his opinion on intelligence reports, diplomatic telegrams and personal contacts from the former Soviet Union who travel to Iran, Liberman told Haaretz that “the situation in Iran and the feeling of the man on the street is one of economic catastrophe. Just this week there was another devaluation in the exchange rate of the Iranian rial. There are shortages of basic goods, rising crime, people are trying to flee the country and are sending money out.”

He added that the coming months could see the downfall of the Islamic Republic’s government. “The opposition protests that were in Iran in June 2009 will return, but bigger,” he predicted. “I think it’s going to be a Tahrir Square-like revolution in Iran. The younger generation have had enough of being held hostage and of sacrificing their future.”

Liberman said that Western countries, especially the US, should be prepared to support a renewed youth protest in Iran, as they were caught unprepared by them in 2009 and were unable to properly aid the movement.

Israel should “not interfere,” he added.

In the extensive interview with Haaretz, the foreign minister praised Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech at the UN General Assembly last week, which, he said, brought the issue of Iran’s nuclear program to global consciousness. He also slammed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s address at the UN, which he called “worse than a slap in the face” to Israel.