At the end of 2017, major protests broke out in Iran, and quickly spread throughout the country. While initially they were described as protests against economic conditions in Iran, they soon were directed against the country’s political, security, and religious leadership. To examine the situation further, in early January 2018 Diwan spoke to Ali Hashem, a Tehran-based journalist. Hashem is familiar with Iran, and outlined his thinking on the protests in a Twitter thread that can be read here. This interview was conducted in English and Arabic. The Arabic version is available here.