On the recordJanuary 9, 2018
The people live like paupers while the mullahs live like gods. For weeks, tens of thousands of brave Iranians have courageously stood up in over 70 cities and chanted: ``The people live like paupers while the mullahs live like gods.'' They challenge their failed government. They have done so in the face of violent repression, imprisonment, torture, and even death. Why? They are fed up. They are fed up with poverty and unemployment; fed up with economic depravation and rampant corruption; fed up with an oppressive theocratic regime that mismanages their own country, mistreats its own people, and spends billions of dollars sowing the seeds of war and funding terrorists while its people suffer. Ayatollahs recklessly pursued nuclear weapons instead of creating jobs and building infrastructure for their own people. The regime's apologists have long argued that these policies are popular and they give Iranians a national sense of pride, restoring their place as a regional power. A regional power? It is more like regional thugs. In Iraq, Iranian-backed militias have executed and beat civilians, looted homes, and destroyed people's lives. In Lebanon, Iranian-backed Hezbollah aims tens of thousands of rockets at Israeli citizens. Syria backs Bashar al-Assad's vicious regime. Iran sends weapons and money to militants in Yemen, Bahrain, and Gaza.…
