The fatal shooting of Kian, an “absolutely innocent” child, sent the protests to a new level — from which Iranians are unlikely to turn back, said Fatemeh Aman, a fellow at the Middle East Institute, a Washington-based think tank.
“He was very involved in nature,” Aman said of Kian, who was seen planting trees in a home video that circulated after his death. “It really made me cry. That boy is a symbol as to what’s left saving in Iran, which is not much due to the disastrous policies of this regime.”
Amini and the three slain boys now serve as “symbols of innocence” for Iranian protesters determined to change the face of their country forever, said Middle East Institute fellow Aman.
“I truly believe the face of Iran has been changed permanently,” she said. “It will never again be in the direction that this regime wants.
The public’s unified “resentment and hatred” of Iran’s ruling clerics has never been higher, Aman said.
“The violence imposed upon [Amini] in Tehran was the tiny explosion that made the volcano erupt. This is [a] generational rebellion. There is no ideology involved, there is no leader involved, and this is something that their parents could not achieve for many decades.
“And that is something that has never happened before,” she said. “That’s what really scares the regime more than anything.”