No education for Iran in second kick of a mule, US envoy to Israel warns
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said he hopes Iran chooses a negotiated path but warned that Tehran may face another “kick of a mule” if it refuses President Donald Trump’s demands.
“You would think they'd learned something” from the US June strikes on their nuclear facilities, Huckabee told PBS. “In the South, where I grew up, we say there's no education in the second kick of a mule. They got a real kick of a mule last summer. I'm wondering, did they get any education from that one?”
“If not, they may stand behind the mule again,” he added. “And there probably won't be much education in the second kick of a mule.”
A senior Iranian reformist has accused security bodies of deliberately escalating and even staging violence including alleged killings among their own ranks to legitimize a sweeping crackdown on protests, sharply disputing the official narrative blaming foreign actors.
Ali Shakouri-Rad said the protests on January 8 and 9 were a predictable outcome of years of accumulated social discontent, even if the scale of the response surprised political factions and security institutions alike.
Shakouri-Rad rejected remarks promoted by official media that foreign intelligence services or opposition networks orchestrated the violence.
“I do not believe this, and I think many people do not believe it either,” he said, referring to claims that Israel’s Mossad or networks associated with exiled Prince Reza Pahlavi were responsible for the violence.
Shakouri-Rad said the breadth of demonstrations across almost 400 cities exceeded expectations across Iran’s political spectrum. “Reformists, conservatives and the security institutions did not think this many people would respond to Reza Pahlavi’s call,” he said.
