Report: Foreign Ministry says Iran demos weaken regime, threaten its stability

A classified Foreign Ministry document on the anti-government demonstrations in Iran says the protests are weakening the Iranian regime and threaten its long-term stability, Channel 10 reports.

The TV channel reports the document — which was drawn up by the ministry’s intelligence wing and shared with Netanyahu, the security cabinet, and Israeli embassies around the world — says the regime was caught off guard by the protests, and, in response, is trying to use means such as arrests and blocking social media to quell the demonstrations.

While the protests initially focused on economic issues, they have since turned to Iran’s support for Syria, Lebanon’s Hezbollah terror group, and Yemen’s Houthi rebels, the document says, according to the report.

It reportedly says that while the protests are not currently a threat to the regime’s stability, they sap its legitimacy, and could undermine it in the long term.

The document also says that Iran’s President Rouhani and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps are on the same page regarding efforts to end the protests, and that the IRGC and Basij militia are exercising restraint and focusing on deterrence, according to Channel 10.