Zelensky Says Russia Ordered 2,400 Iranian Drones

The National Union for Democracy in Iran (NUFDI) sent a letter to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken October 11, asking the Administration “to reassess its prevailing policy toward Iran and the team of diplomats tasked to implement it.”

NUFDI argues in the letter that current protests show Iranians are determined to change the clerical regime and US policy is outdated and does not address the current reality.

The letter specifically asks Blinken to consider replacing US Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley and his deputy Jarret Blanc who “have focused their efforts almost exclusively on securing a new nuclear accord” with Iran. It added that they “have not only failed to achieve this objective; they have also largely ignored every other US foreign policy” consideration.

President Joe Biden’s appointment of Malley who was one of the Obama era officials responsible for negotiating the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, JCPOA, has always been controversial among those who consider the accord as deficient and incompatible with US national interests.

The letter asks Blinken to “reformulate” Iran policy basing it on human rights and democracy, “limit allocation of resources” for achieving a nuclear deal, appoint a US Special Representative to the Iranian people, implement new sanctions and “devise…measures to provide material support to the Iranian people.”

Pro-government officials and media have increasingly been accusing protesters of “terrorism” and “fomenting sectarianism” following their harsh crackdown on demonstrators in the Baluch city of Zahedan in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan September 30, which left nearly a hundred dead, including children and bystanders, and the ongoing crackdown in Sanandaj in the western Kordestan (Kurdistan) province.

Protests will result in Iran's partition if the government does not crack down, they warn. They also blame “foreign enemies” and “terrorist groups” for the unrest that began 24 days ago when Mahsa Amini, a young woman was killed in police custody, and has spread since then.

Antigovernment activists say that the harsh crackdown on ethnic groups is the government’s tactic to foment more tensions and appear as the savior of Iran’s territorial integrity and public security.

The Revolutionary Guards (IRGC)-linked Tasnim news agency wrote Saturday that because “foreigners failed” to use the ethnic card in the protests they resorted to other disruptive tactics.

Tasnim was referring to a hactivist group’s disruption of a state TV’s news program which suddenly transitioned from a clip showing Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to chants of “women, life, and freedom”, the signature slogan of the current protests, or revolution, as many describe it now.

The IRGC which had initially not used overwhelming military force against protesters on the streets, has been attacking the positions of Kurdish Iranian insurgent groups in Iraqi Kurdistan with artillery and drones in the past three weeks.

Sectarian groups have been active in both provinces for decades but there is no indication, judging from the slogans protesters chant in both places that they are fighting for any cause other than toppling the clerical regime.

“Down with the Dictator” and “Death to Khamenei” are at the top of the protesters’ list of slogans in Zahedan, capital of Sistan and Baluchestan, and Sanandaj, capital of Kordestan, as in all other areas of the country.

“The people of Kordestan donated blood for the people of Zahedan and chant ‘Kordestan supports Zahedan’. Accuse them of separatism if you dare!”, a supporter of protesters tweeted.

“You had ‘separated’ us for 43 years: men from women, the younger from the older generation, the Kurds from the Turks, The Luris from the Baluchis, the Persian speakers from the Gilaki speakers, … We have just united to separate the Islamic Republic and its clerics from our Iran,” another tweet which has become very popular said.

Others have pointed out in their social media posts that officials consistently refer to peacefully protesting university students as “rioters’, celebrities who have supported protesters as “lackeys of the West”, ethnic groups as “separatist” and claim that the youth who have turned into the driving force of the protests as kids who are only acting up.

“You are resorting to everything you can to instigate sectarianism in some part of the country [but you keep failing]. You tried Baluchestan but you failed, now you are targeting Sanandaj. No part of the Iranian territory has been or will be separated from it. Whenever it happened [in the past] it was because of the incompetence of the rulers at the time. You’ve lost your power of tricking people,” US-based Iranian journalist Ehsan Karami tweeted.

After explosions in several Ukrainian cities Monday morning, ending months of calm in Kyiv and reportedly killing at least eight in the capital, Zelensky gave a video address on social media. “This morning is difficult,” he said. “We are dealing with terrorists. Dozens of missiles and Iranian Shaheds. They have two targets: energy facilities throughout the country…[and] people. There may be temporary power outages now, but there will never be an interruption in our confidence ­– our confidence in victory.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Sunday the truck-bombing of the Kerch bridge, Europe’s longest and linking Russian-held Crimea to the mainland, was “a terrorist act” organized by Ukrainian intelligence agents and “aimed at destroying critical Russian civilian infrastructure.”

Zelensky’s claims over Iranian drones were the latest from Ukrainian leaders. Last week Oleksiy Kuleba, head of the Kyiv military administration, said six explosions 75km south of Kyiv in a military base at Bila Tserkva were caused by Iranian-made Shahed-136 delta-wing ‘kamikaze’ drones.

‘Cheap alternative’

Ukrainian officials had earlier suggested the drones offer Moscow an easily-assembled, cheap alternative to high-precision missiles or piloted air raids, although Nataliya Gumenyuk, a spokeswoman for the Ukrainian military command, recently told AFP news agency the Shahed-136’s effectiveness was “very low”. In the Bila Tserkva attack, six drones were shot down, while another six crashed into buildings, injuring one soldier.

Tehran has denied supplying drones to Russia. Iran foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani last week said media reports were “baseless.” US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan claimed July Iran had agreed to supply drones to Russia, a warning repeated by officials several times. In September, the US imposed sanctions on several companies for helping or facilitating the drone transfers to Russia.

Ukraine is also lobbying for increased supplies of US weapons. Politico reported Monday that discussions on air-defense batteries would “loom large at the US-led Ukraine Defense Contact Group… in Brussels later this week.” Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said “the best response to Russian missile terror is the supply of anti-aircraft and anti-missile systems to Ukraine” so as to “protect the future of Europe.”

Ukraine seeks Israeli arms as rhetoric escalates

Ukraine is also keen to source arms from Israel, a top-ten global weapons exporter and the Middle East’s main drone producer alongside Turkey. While Ankara has supplied Ukraine since 2019 with the advanced Bayraktar TB-2drone, Israel has been reluctant to arm Ukraine due to its generally good relations with Russia, a situation Zelensky claimed in September had left him “in shock.” With parliamentary elections due November 8, Israeli politicians are also wary of alienating the Russian-speakers m around 15 percent of voters.

In a further sign of possible escalation in the ten-month Russia-Ukraine conflict, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Monday he had ordered troop deployment alongside Russian forces near Ukraine in response to what he said were planned Ukrainian “strikes” on the territory of Belarus. The Ukrainian military claimed Saturday Russia had deployed Iranian drones in Belarus.

“Tell the president of Ukraine and the other lunatics: if they touch one meter of our territory then the Crimean Bridge will seem to them like a walk in the park,” Lukashenko said.

Justifying Russia’s actions in a televised address, Putin said Russia would respond again if Ukraine hit Russian territory. “The Kyiv regime, with its actions, has put itself on the same level as international terrorist organizations… To leave such acts without a response is simply impossible.”

Russia has also threatened the use of tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine. Zelensky October 6 called for “preemptive strikes” by Nato so that Russia knew “what will happen to them if they use it,” leading to Russian charges that the Ukrainian president wanted to turn the conflict nuclear.

He made the remarks about a month ago in a meeting with families of the “martyred” athletes but was published by its official website on Monday. 

Deprivation of athletes of medals due to a ban on competing with the representatives of “the Zionist regime” is actually a victory because competing means recognizing the regime, he noted.

There is no legislation banning athletes but under pressure from federation officials, they usually lose games intentionally, forfeit matches or claim injury to avoid facing Israelis. Khamenei has often praised Iranian athletes who refuse to play against Israelis, and in September 2021 said they should continue to do so even if facing punishment by international sports bodies.

About 30 Iranian athletes in recent years have defected from Iranian national teams and sought asylum in other countries, including Judo champion Saeid Mollaei, Greco-Roman national team wrestler Ali Arsalan, and many others.

Pointing to the prominent role of popular sport figures in different strata of society, Khamenei said observance of religious teachings by the athletes and sports managers has a great social and spiritual impact on people. There is no Muslim religious rule against competing with Israelis.

Amid widespread protests by the Iranians against Khamenei, the government, and the Islamic regime, many officials are trying to boost the discourse of theocracy in the society.

Those who are looking for news in Iran will not turn to the state TV, Abdi argued.

Ironically, when hackers interrupted the state TV news program October 8, playing a short clip, most Iranians found out about it through social media reports or on foreign-based satellite TV rather than watching the actual program on the state TV.

Meanwhile, former Vice President Mostafa Hashemi Taba has argued in another interview that the state TV, also known as the Islamic Republic of Iran's Broadcasting organization (IRIB) excels in keeping Iranians uninformed about developments. He added that Iranians no longer trust the state television and the officials who appear on TV.

"When the television broadcasts what only a tiny segment of the population believes, others will inevitably turn their TV sets off and turn their backs to it."

Meanwhile, former IRIB Chief Mohammad Hashemi also criticized IRIB for airing the news only after they have been broadcast on foreign-based satellite channels. Nonetheless, he praised the state TV for countering lies and rumors, without citing an example.

According to Didban Iran [Iran Monitor] website in Tehran, the activity of IRIB's deputy chief for political affairs, which is in charge of news has been reduced to responding to information programs that foreign-based Persian media broadcast about Iranian developments.

IRIB is directly controlled by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s office, especially its news and political programming.

The state broadcaster usually repeats what has already been aired during previous hours and sometimes days, adding a spin to please the organization's management and its supreme chief, Khamenei.

During the three weeks since the start of antigovernment protests in Iran, IRIB's most eye-catching output was showing the half-naked image of an Iranian protester abroad, for which the organization was forced to apologize later. It was meant to help the regime’s cause by discrediting protesters, but it touched a raw religious nerve among some insiders.

IRIB’s penchant for one-sided news has deeply annoyed viewers who currently get their news from social media and Persian-speaking satellite TV channels based in Europe and the United States. The viewers no longer trust the media that belongs to and echoes the voice of a government they have ceased to trust for the same reason: Unilateralism, justifying and beatifying the government's often wrong measures and its police brutality in the streets.

IRIB Chief Payman Jebelli has described the organization as "the regime's media outlet," an expression that was also used later by former President Hassan Rouhani. The same thing was said even more elaborately by the chairman of the state TV office in Khorasan Province Mohsen Nasrpour who stated, "the state TV is the mouthpiece of the government and the regime."

This was most recently reiterated by Hashem Hosseini Bushehri, a senior cleric, during a meeting with Jebelli on October 8. According to the Qom Seminary's official website, Bushehri said: "IRIB is the official podium for the Islamic Republic regime."

The people who have been chanting slogans in the streets of almost all major Iranian cities during the past three weeks, saying that they no longer want the Islamic Republic, are not likely to be interested in the same regime's mouthpiece. Following the hacking on Saturday, an Iranian Twitter user commented: "Thank you. Next time, please unplug the entire state television."