How many suitcases does it take to carry $94 billion?
I’ve been asking myself that question ever since Bloomberg reporter Dan Williams alerted me Friday to this latest news: “Israel’s military intelligence now believes the Tehran government could fall, a change in its assessment as Iranian protests spread.” Then I read that U.S. intelligence is on the same page.
First, wow.
The mere possibility that this diabolical government could fall makes my heart tremble. We’ve published enough pieces on this prospect over the years; we know the extent of the agonizing and the yearning, especially with the Persian community here in Los Angeles. The freedom they so value in America is the freedom they so crave for their compatriots back in Iran. Now that things appear to be reaching a breaking point, there is probably nothing else on their mind.
Second, where’s the money?
Have you noticed the $94 billion figure in those reports about dictator-in-chief Khamenei planning a possible exit to fellow dictator Putin’s Russia? Somehow, no one ever asks: Where did the man get all this money?
Seriously, $94 billion can be the GDP of a third world nation. According to an investigation by Reuters, Khamenei’s wealth is more than his country’s total annual petroleum exports.
I wouldn’t be surprised if an image of their leader escaping with $94 billion is fueling the rage of a people suffering their worst economic hardship in years. Maybe that’s why protesters are chanting, “Neither Gaza nor Lebanon, my life for Iran.” They’ve had it seeing their supreme leader squander billions on faraway terrorism rather than spend it on his own people who are mired in misery and oppression.
There are signs Khamenei’s blood pressure may be rising. He let protesters know that those who are burning government buildings, clashing with armed forces and “committing sabotage” would face the death sentence. He warned the judicial system that security forces will show “no leniency towards saboteurs.”
Of course, he also brought in his two favorite scapegoats—Big Satan America and Little Satan Israel– announcing that security forces would “neutralize the destabilization plans of the Zionist regime and its godfather, the United States.”
He warned that Tehran would not tolerate people acting as “mercenaries for foreigners.”
“Last night in Tehran and some other cities, a bunch of people bent on destruction came and destroyed buildings that belong to their own country in order to please the President of the US and make him happy,” he said.
Make Trump happy? Protesters are hoping Trump is exceedingly unhappy.
On that front, the president reiterated his threat of retribution against Iran. “I have let them know that if they start killing people, which they tend to do during their riots… we’re going to hit them very hard,” he said in an interview today with radio host Hugh Hewitt.
The problem is that he made similar threats a week ago, while protesters were being killed. With the death toll mounting, will he mean it now?
“They’ve been told very strongly — even more strongly than I’m speaking to you right now — that if they do that, they’re going to have to pay hell,” he said to Hewitt.
What hell means is yet to be determined.
Love him or hate him, after what we saw in Caracas, no one will be shocked if Trump reaches a breaking point with Tehran. Persians around the world will surely be praying for that this weekend.
If Trump does decide to make a move against Khamenei, I’m sure he’s already thinking about how to get that $94 billion.
