It's quite a coincidence that the first mass Iranian demonstrations in nearly a decade began just two weeks after the US and Israel reached an agreement to to counter Iran's missile and nuclear programs and just one day after Iran's parliamentary voted on Jerusalem.

U.S. and Israeli officials reached a closed-door cooperation agreement on how to deal with Iran, according to Israel's Channel 10 News. The agreement, which was reportedly signed on Dec. 12 at the White House, aims to counter Iran's missile and nuclear programs.

The two countries have reportedly decided to set up joint teams to combat Iran in the region.

One joint team would grapple with Iran's ties to the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, as well as Iranian activity in Syria. The second team would aim to deal with Iran's nuclear goals, while another team would specialize in dealing with the country's missile program.

Source: US, Israel reach cooperation agreement on Iran

Meanwhile, dueling protests erupted in Iran on Thursday. Initial protests were organized by so-called hardliners who think the government isn't being religious enough and tough enough. Those were followed by ever-willing students.

Overall, the numbers said to be taking part in demonstrations range from hundreds in some places to thousands in others - but demonstrations do not appear to be taking place on a massive scale.

Slogans have been chanted against both Mr Rouhani and Mr Khamenei, and clerical rule in general.

There is also anger at Iran's interventions abroad. In Mashhad, some chanted "not Gaza, not Lebanon, my life for Iran", a reference to what protesters say is the administration's focus on foreign rather than domestic issues.

Source: Iran protests: Violence on third day of demonstrations

Now here's where coincidence appears most strongly: On Wednesday, the day before spontaneous protests erupted, Iran's parliament voted to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine.

Iran declared Jerusalem the "capital of Palestine" on Wednesday following a parliamentary vote, according to the country's semi-official Fars news agency.

Iran's announcement to recognize the holy city as the “Palestinian capital forever” comes in direct response to President Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

“It comes in response to the recent U.S. decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in hopes of dealing a blow to Muslims,” said Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, according to Turkey's Anadolu news agency.

Source: Iran votes to declare Jerusalem 'capital of Palestine'

December has been an especially busy month for America in the Middle East. There was Trump's declaration that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. There was Nikki Haley's purported smoking gun about Iranian missiles. There was the overwhelming UN vote against Trump's declaration about Jerusalem. There was doubling down on Syrian regime change by Turkey after the U.S. bribe -- er, understanding about Turkish visas.

As they say, interesting times we live in.