I'm John Bachelor. I welcome my good colleague, Jonathan Shanzer, the Executive Director of Foundation for Defense of Democracy.

We go immediately to the headlines on Iran. This is the Times of Israel in these hours.

Iranian authorities say some 2,000 people killed in protest as news trickles out.

Opposition aligned site claims, goes to subhead, 12,000 killed, far higher than any NGO

or state estimates.

Tehran defends Internet block, as Germany's merits the Chancellor of Germany, predicts regime in, quote, last days and weeks.

Jonathan, I come to you because it's through a glass darkly.

The Internet has been down for days.

The phones are down.

The Starlink that was working is gone.

We're getting no good information.

We have these wild numbers.

What's behind it is the regime has decided to open fire in Tehran. Why? What brought them to this, what appears to be

broken solution? Good evening to you. Good evening, John. Yeah, this is the extension of

protests that have been going on really for the better part of a decade

where people have been coming out of the streets thousands of different protests that we've

tracked at Foundation for Defensive Democracies. The people have not stopped. You know,

you may remember the significant round of protests back in 2022 what they called the women life freedom

movement this was sparked by the killing of a Kurdish woman masa amini who the regime deemed to be

dressed inappropriately now people are coming out not because of the treatment of women only

but in addition they are protesting the mismanagement of the country the lack of water the treatment of women only. But in addition, they are protesting the mismanagement of the country,

the lack of water, the lack of electricity, the collapse of the currency, the just flatlining

...