The death of a detained young woman in Teheran who had been arrested for ‚bad hijab‘ has provoked demonstrations which started in Kurdistan – Mahsa Amini was Kurdish and Sunni – but evolved into nationwide protests of the Iranian civil society against the enforced rules by the Islamic Republic’s regime and against the system in general. It is a particularly sensitive time for Iran because the end of Ali Khamenei’s leadership era is foreseeable. A normalisation of relations with ‚the West‘ through a reactivation of the nuclear deal (JCPOA) has failed so far. Tensions are intensifying because of Iran’s ‚alliance‘ with Russia.
Erzsébet Rózsa is a Professor at the National University of Public Service, Budapest and a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for World Economics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. She is also an External Fellow at the Institute for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Budapest. Her fields of research include the political, security and social processes of the Middle East, Egypt, Iran, the Iranian nuclear debate, nuclear non-proliferation, as well as the Euro-Mediterranean cooperation institutions. Erzsébet N. Rózsa holds an MA in Arabic Studies, Iranian Studies and English Studies, and a PhD in International Relations.
Gudrun Harrer, Senior Editor at Der Standard, Lecturer on Modern History and Politics of the Middle East, University of Vienna and Diplomatic Academy of Vienna
