JAKARTA - A factory in Khomein, Iran, produces the flags of the United States (US) and Israel. The factory produced 2,000 flags each.
The flag factory business is doing well as the US flag is in demand in Iran for the country's ongoing protests. Not only the US, most of the protests were accompanied by burning Israeli and British flags.
Tensions between the US and Iran have reached their highest level in decades after Iran's Supreme Commander Qassem Soleimani was killed in a US-owned drone strike in Baghdad on January 3. The incident prompted Iran to counterattack by launching missiles against US bases in Iraq.
“We have no problem with Americans and British people. We have a problem with their government. We also have problems with their president, with the policies they are implementing, "said Ghasem Ghanjani, one of the flag factory owners.
“The American and Israeli people know that we have no problem with them. If people burn the flags of these countries at rallies, it is only to show their protest, "he added.
A flag factory quality control manager named Rezaei said that burning or stepping on a flag is nothing compared to killing. He also explained that flag burning was the only thing they could do.
"Compared to the cowardly act of the US, like killing General Soleimani, this (burning the US flag) is a little thing for them. And this is the only thing we can do the most," Rezaei said.
For hardliners, anti-American sentiment has always been at the center of Iran's Islamic revolution. The clerical leaders in Iran continue to denounce the United States as and call it a "great devil".
But even so, young demonstrators in Tehran refused to step on or burn the US flag. This was done after the Iranian government admitted too late that it had shot down the Ukrainian plane.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani admitted that he accidentally shot down a Ukraine Airlines Boeing 737-800 and killed 176 people. Rouhani said on his official Twitter account that the shots were fired because of the fault of his security forces.
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