As Iran began its exchange of hostilities with Israel last week, the Shi’a theocracy beamed with confidence. Now, they’re taking the same moves they did to crack down on turbulent protests to quell unrest at home.
According to a Tuesday article by the Associated Press, amid diminishing numbers of missiles fired from Iran toward Israel — and virtually none of them getting through — Tehran is trying to get people to uninstall free messaging service WhatsApp from their phones, baselessly claiming the app is gathering citizens’ info and sending it to Israel.
The app — owned by Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta — features end-to-end encryption, meaning users not in on the conversation can’t read it.
“We do not track your precise location, we don’t keep logs of who everyone is messaging, and we do not track the personal messages people are sending one another,” a statement from WhatsApp said. “We do not provide bulk information to any government.”
Company officials added they were “concerned these false reports will be an excuse for our services to be blocked at a time when people need them the most.”
And it’s worth noting that such messaging apps can be used to coordinate protests without the government’s knowledge — something that Iran seemed to be acutely aware of when they banned the app, along with the Google Play store, in the wake of 2022 mass unrest in the country.
The move comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanayhu and President Donald Trump have talked about knowing where Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is and debating whether or not to have him eliminated.
🚨 JUST IN: Israeli PM Netanyahu says he is NOT interested in peace talks with Iran, per ABC
He’s also refusing to rule out assassinating Supreme Leader Khamenei
This comes after news the Iranian regime is asking to come back to the negotiating table. pic.twitter.com/AEMvcbx4Zv
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) June 16, 2025
Donald J. Trump Truth Social 06.17.25 12:19 PM EST pic.twitter.com/OJwaTiWdLN
— MAGA Resource (@MAGAResource) June 18, 2025
Khamenei, meanwhile, said he’s unfazed by this rhetoric.
“The US President threatens us. With his absurd rhetoric, he demands that the Iranian people surrender to him,” he wrote on X.
“They should make threats against those who are afraid of being threatened. The Iranian nation isn’t frightened by such threats.”
The US President threatens us. With his absurd rhetoric, he demands that the Iranian people surrender to him.
They should make threats against those who are afraid of being threatened. The Iranian nation isn’t frightened by such threats.— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) June 18, 2025
Khamenei, however, might be more afraid of the consequences at home than of any attempt by Israel or the United States on his life.
In a three-person colloquy published at The Washington Post on Tuesday regarding Iran, David Ignatius — who has decades of experience reporting on the Middle East and the intelligence community — noted that “Iranians tell me that in their contacts with people back home, a constant refrain is that the authorities have spent more time policing hijabs than looking for secret Mossad shipments of drones. In other words, people think this regime is incompetent, in addition to being repressive.”
Will the government in Iran be overthrown?
That’s the perfect reason for people to not just blame Israel for the attacks on Iran, especially when the evidence of dwindling attack capacity can be blamed in part on Israeli air superiority and secret drone operations taking out ballistic missile launchers inside Iran.
Iranian Strikes on Israel
1st night 3 waves 200 missiles
2nd night 100 missiles
3rd night 70 missiles
4th night 50 missiles
5th night 30 missilesYes, Israel is winning.
— Mimi a journey of Synths and Sensibility (@mimidancer) June 18, 2025
To a certain extent, the question is how long both countries can keep this up — but Iran clearly has less capacity to do so and has no allies willing to stick their neck out with either materiel or military support. Israel does.
Moreover, the key threat is at home — the same reason why Iran has gone from boasting about its prowess to policing WhatsApp like it polices hijabs. They’ve gone from fighting back against the Iron Dome to crouching in the fetal position, hoping to weather the storm and preserve the theocratic state at all costs. Good luck with that, as nobody seems particularly interested in making a deal anytime soon.
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