Why Israel's attacks are backfiring as Iranians rally around the flag

Israel appears to have forgotten a lesson from the Iraqi invasion of Iran in 1980. Instead of inducing regime change, it led to the people of Iran rallying behind the Islamic Republic in the name of nationalism, not necessarily out of love for the clerical elite. 

Rather than fuelling internal dissent, Israel’s recent strikes have similarly sparked a resurgence of nationalist feeling - centred not on support for the regime, but on defence of the nation. 

There have been public mourning ceremonies and online tributes. Even some of those once aligned with the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement have begun expressing solidarity with those they now frame as “defenders of the homeland”. 

In working-class neighbourhoods and rural areas, where opposition movements had struggled to gain a foothold, such sentiments are even stronger.

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