Iconic moment: Defiant Iranian woman rips down anti-American poster

https://youtu.be/66g3D5Zvf4M

In a moment of startling defiance of the mullah-led regime, video from the growing Iranian protests shows a woman climbing a lamp post and tearing down a "down with USA" sign amid cheers from a crowd.

The protests, which began last Friday in response to the government's announcement of a spike in the price of gasoline, have now spread to more than 100 cities. At least 1,000 people have been arrested, according the estimates of analysts, and more than 100 protesters have been killed.

Videos on social media show banks, gas stations and government buildings on fire and protesters chanting "down with Khamenei," referring to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted to Iranian protesters on Saturday that "the United States is with you." And on Sunday, the White House condemned the regime's use of "lethal force and severe communications restrictions," criticizing a government that "abandons its people and embarks on a crusade for personal power and riches."

The Trump administration has been issuing sanctions since May 2017, when it pulled out of the nuclear agreement. The sanctions have severely harmed Iran's economy, causing its currency to plummet, prices to spike and shortages of food and medical equipment.

In 2009, a rigged election in favor of incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sent millions of Iranians into the streets in defiance of authorities in what became known as the Iranian Green Movement. Dubbed the "Twitter Revolution," for its reliance on social media, it eventually was quelled through arrests, beatings and torture.

Khamenei has blamed the current riots on foreign influences.

"The counter-revolution and Iran's enemies have always supported sabotage and breaches of security and continue to do so," Khamenei said Sunday in a speech on state television. "Unfortunately, some problems were caused, a number of people lost their lives and some centers were destroyed."

Iranian journalist and activist Masih Alinejad-Ghomi has been distributing video from Iranians documenting brutality by the regime.

On Thursday, she tweeted a video said to have been taken by a man who was shot and killed by plain-clothed regime forces reacting to a protest outside a local headquarters for the Basij, one of the five forces of the notorious Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp.

Heartbreaking video from #IranProtests .This woman filmed 2 protesters who were shot in head and have been killed in the street. Now the woman is in prison for filming the brutality of the Islamic Republic. Please listen This is an eyewitness testimony from people on the ground. pic.twitter.com/snbSZJgDog

— Masih Alinejad 🏳️ (@AlinejadMasih) November 21, 2019

Alinejad-Ghomi is a presenter and producer at the Voice of America Persian Service and a correspondent for Radio Farda, also a U.S. government-funded service.