Posted on 01/10/2017 12:36:25 PM PST by Cronos
The social makeup of Iran’s population is very complex, because there is actually no such thing as an Iranian people. There are, instead, Iranian citizens divided into many ethnic groups: Persians make up about 60% of the population, while the rest are Azars, Kurds, Blouchis, Arabs, Turkmen and tens of smaller ethnic groups.
The main religion in Iran is Shia Islam, adhered to by 90% of the country’s people, while Sunnis – mainly Kurds and Blouchis – make up about 10%. The country recognizes Judaism, Christianity and Zoroastrianism and reserves a parliamentary seat for each religion.
Zoroastrianism is based on the belief in two gods, a good one and an evil one.The world is the arena in which they battle one another. Daytime is when the good god wins and nighttime is the time the evil god has the upper hand. Good occurrences are arranged by the good god, bad ones are the fruit of the evil god’s labors.
Zoroastrianism was the official religion of the Sassanid Persian Empire, vanquished and destroyed in the 7th century Islamic-Arab conquest. The Arabs forced most of the Zoroastrian believers to accept Islam, and punished whoever stayed loyal to his original religion by death. Despite that persecution, or because of it, many of today’s Iranians are Zoroastrians who pretend to be Muslims. No one has any idea who is a secret Zoroastrian and who is an authentic Muslim, because everyone identifies himself as Muslim, knows how to pray and is familiar with the laws and customs of Islam
During my academic career, I met many Iranian expatriates. Some of them told me that the number of people in Iran who are loyal to the Zoroastrian religion is in the millions and in fact numbers many millions, but that all of them succeed in passing as Muslims and even in having a significant presence in the Ayatollah regime. Many of them serve in the Iranian Army and in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, a good number of them having reached the upper echelons of the Revolutionary Guards.
Every once in a while they burst out to demonstrate, the last time being in 2009 after the Iranian presidential elections were faked, allowing power to be snatched by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The country was filled with demonstrators, which could have ended with the Ayatollahs fleeing in planes that stood fueled, ready and waiting in the Tehran airport – had the protests continued. The brutal suppression of the demonstrations brought about their end – till next time.
President Obama did not support the protestors at that time, probably because of the empathy he had – and still has – for the Ayatollah regime, an empathy that brought him five years later to grant that dark regime the possibility of continuing its satanic plans to acquire nuclear power in another decade.
On Wednesday, March 15, 2017, the Zoroastrian holiday of Chahar Shanbeh Soori will occur. Zoroastrians all over Iran are planning a “Freedom Holiday” for that date, intending to burst out into the streets in an attempt to overthrow the Ayatollah regime If they are able to get rid of their Muslim rulers, they intend to bring the Shah’s son, at present in exile in Europe, back to Iran to assume the leadership of the country like his father, who was deposed at the end of 1978.
The Zoroastrians are using social media to organize the protests as well as passing information from one person to another among those whom they consider to be trustworthy. They estimate that there is enough time until mid-March to bring the message to the ears of every Zoroastrian in the country and to prepare them physically and psychologically for the “Freedom Holiday.”
Can this plan being an end to the Ayatollah regime? It most certainly can, if the Zoroastrians actually all go out to the streets and cause other “outsider” groups, who suffer economically and socially from the unbearable corruption that has taken over government officials, to join them.
If the many hidden Zoroastrians who serve in the armed forces turn their weapons on their Muslim colleagues, the army will be paralyzed, and so will the Revolutionary Guard, the Basij militia forces and the branches of Army Intelligence. This will allow the Zoroastrians out in the street to take over the public sphere and force their own agenda upon it.
The Zoroastrians-in-exile, who encourage and advertise the “Freedom Holiday” are hopeful that this attempt will succeed, especially because the new US president Donald Trump is not exactly pro-Islam and certainly not in favor of the Ayatollahs ruling Iran. He, as opposed to Obama, might actually support the rebels and take concrete steps against the Iranian government if it comes down heavily against the protestors, as it did in 2009.
I do not recommend holding one’s breath in anticipation of the success of Iranian Zoroastrians, because it is not entirely clear that they are seriously planning action against the hated government – and even if they do go out to the streets, it is not at all sure they will succeed in getting the Ayatollahs to board those waiting planes out of the country. Success depends on a great many factors whose actions on that fateful day are hard to predict.
Still, taking into account the determination of the organizers, I have a reasonable basis for expecting them to carry out their plans in and around the middle of March. I send them my wishes for success from this podium. Israel will be only too pleased to return to the days of its good relations with Iran – the days before the Islamist revolution destroyed the Shah’s regime towards the end of 1978.
In case you missed it:
Senior Iranian officials late last week confirmed reports that the total amount of money paid to Iran over the past four years is in excess of $10 billion, a figure that runs counter to official estimates provided by the White House.
The latest disclosure by Iran, which comports with previous claims about the Obama administration obfuscating details about its cash transfers to Iran—including a $1.7 billion cash payment included in a ransom to free Americans—sheds further light on the White House’s back room dealings to bolster Iran’s economy and preserve the Iran nuclear agreement.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3512341/posts
Like the wicked witch in Hansel and Gretel, she fed them up to make them nice and fat, as she planned to eat them.
I have thought that the machinations of the Sultan were to induce an Iranian nuke attack on Israel, the purpose being to eliminate both of the primary enemies of Sunni Islam in one exchange, or at least to eliminate Iran totally while disabling Israel so that Israel’s neighbors can finish it off.
In the mid 80’s to mid 90’s Japan had a HUUUUGE problem with Iranian illegals, there were tons of them.
They weren’t educated sophisticated Iranians, either. Very many of them were into crime.
The elements paid by the Japanese Police announced a huge Persian New Year in Tokyo’s Yoyogi Park —tens of thousands of illegal Iranian overstayers poured into Tokyo from all over the country.
The trap was sprung:
Over 90% of them were arrested and deported in one fell swoop.
The tiny bit of illegal immigration Japan now has is mainly from Koreans, Chinese, Phillipino, Thai, etc.
But at one time EVERYONE agreed that the biggest problem by far was posed by the Iranians.
It’s weird cuz all the Persians I knew from University were law-abiding, polite, secular, and somehow very sophisticated.
Possible. But the thought that sunni have an excuse championed by the UN to finish off shia looms large...every time I see that Samantha Power, my blood runs cold. First you arm them, then you accuse them of planning genocide, then you invoke your ‘duty to protect’ and annihilate them.
Maybe there are two irons in the fire and maybe more that we know not yet of. If he could be the agent of finishing off those two entities, he would be assured of his place in Paradise where rivers flow and his virgins await. Would virgins be appropriate?
There are about 25,000 Zoroastrians in Iran, and about 50,000 in India. Thanks for the laugh though.
HA! He sure would have made allah happy. Those shia are dogs, they don’t deserve to live, remember?
The only way he and his cabal would provide them with a stick, is to watch them beat themselves over the head with it.
Not quite. It is hoped that the Shias will swing that stick at the Joos and get properly recompensed by the Joos. He thinks he can take out two thorns in the Sunni side with one treaty.
Now THAT makes sense!
Most of the ‘article’ is garbage. At best Fake News.
To add: I’m glad you posted this rubbish article, Cronos.
It really goes to show that Israeli news outlets do disseminate fantastic propaganda and misleading information.
Me too. She has been making weird statements on twitter:
Changing twitter accounts in 6 days when Donald Trump enters the Oval. Follow me @SamanthaJPower . We are not going gently into the night.
I believe they want to start up another war, before Trump takes office.
I think that the article is exaggerated, but that it is true that there are quite a number of believers in minority faiths in Iran, and some of them are “hiding in plain sight.”
The two statements are oxymorons
If the Iranis turn around tomorrow and say "Oy, we are oppressed by this Arab religion, let's go and destroy Mecca" -- that's good news
” They would NEVER be Christians” — many were Christians before Islam.
I know. Islam didn't start until the beginning of the 7th century.
The Iranians generally hate anyone that isn't Iranian. They were PERSIANS and thought themselves vastly superior to the rest of humanity.
When young Iranian men first came to the U.S.A. for education beginning, I recall, in the '60's, there were loathed for their superiority attitude.
As for the Arabs...well our good Lord decided to make the SAUDIS, of all people, richer than Croesus. But there are relatively FEW Saudis AND Arabs and according to the Internet Google and there are 80,541,424 Iranians. That is HUGE compared to the number of Gulf Arabs. THAT makes the big difference in the Arab versus the Persian populations.
Also, the Persians/Iranians are NOT Semitic, as the Arabs are. They are Indo-European. That's yet another reason why they hate the Arabs.
Lol. If you REALLY want to piss off an Iranian, ask him if he's an Arab. :o)
WHY they became Muslims is beyond me. I doubt that they will change. Why would they?
Iran was Zoroastrian and heavily Assyrian Christian until the 7th century. Even then, Christianity was a large minority until Timur-E-Lang
It also changed from Sunni to Shia Islam a few centuries ago. Change can happen
True. But it is hopeful and plays into one fantasy of mine :) that Iran will toss off the yoke of Islam
The more the Saudis say Islam should be "Arab the master race", the more Iranis will move away from ISlam
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