The Looming Crisis: What If Iran Becomes the Next Syria? - SPIEGEL ONLINE - International

It's no different with Iran. The country is restless. People have been taking to the streets to vent their daily dissatisfaction for months. The last time the regime was under this much pressure was in the days of the Green Movement in 2009. This time, however, the dissatisfaction is neither restricted to one political movement, nor to Tehran. In many Iranian provinces, people are rising up to protest water shortages, bread prices, unemployment and nepotism. They protest with anger and distress. Crippling inflation is sending food prices soaring as the currency collapses. Iran's economic crisis is rooted in both domestic and international problems a result on the one hand of mismanagement and corruption but also of years of sanctions and isolation.