IRGC’s Ominous Warning To Iranians: No More Protests!
Commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has threatened people not to take to streets anymore saying that Saturday is the day that protests will be over.
Commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has threatened people not to take to streets anymore saying that Saturday is the day that protests will be over.
During a speech at the funeral of those killed in an attack on a shrine in the city of Shiraz, Hossein Salami claimed that young Iranians are deceived but they must not sell their honor to America.
“Take off the uniforms of the American army,” stated Salami.
The Islamic Republic routinely blames most economic and political problems on enemy plots, meaning primarily the United States and also Israel and often European countries such as Britain and France
Elsewhere in his remarks the hardliner IRGC commander addressed young Iranian protesters saying that “Some of you may think this isn’t an American plot. But don’t think Joe Biden, General Martin Dempsey, Frank McKenzie, Benny Gantz, Naftali Bennett, Yair Lapid or Mohammed Bin Salman would call you on your phone and ask you to pour into streets. No! They do it through their media.”
Salami also urged the students not to turn universities into a “battlefield for America against the nation.”
In November 2019 when protests suddenly erupted in the country, the IRGC immediately resorted to large scale killing of protesters using military weapons often at close range. At least 1,500 people died, and thousands arrested. This time there has been less use of assault rifles and machine guns against protesters, but shotguns and beatings have killed around 270.
With Salami’s warning, the concern now is that the IRGC will soon resort to fill military intervention against unarmed protesters as a desperate measure against the longest-running daily protests in the 43-year history of the clerical regime.
The Islamic Republic calls the United States its arch enemy and refused to meet American diplomats in direct negotiations during 17 months of nuclear talks from April 2021 to August 2022.
Salami’s statements regarding an end to demonstrations came at a time when students have been staging more protests at different universities on Saturday blaming the IRGC for the Wednesday attack on a Shia shrine in Shiraz in which over a dozen lost their lives and many more injured.
Students chanted slogans against Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and the IRGC forces during their gatherings saying that they are “murderers”.
There are also signs that older Iranians have started joining the protests and the regime has begun to fear the wrath of the people who this time clearly have one demand: regime change. They are not asking for reducing the 40-percent inflation rate or lifting the mandatory hijab rule. They are openly demanding a different kind of government.
The regime still has its supporters who are either religious or receive benefits from the government. But they seem to be in a minority.
Doctor Parisa Bahmani, from Zanjan, was killed during the gathering of doctors in front of Tehran Medical Council, after government forces opened fire on demonstrators, Iran International has learned.
Following the announcement of her death, doctors held another round of protests outside the buildings of the Medical Council of the Islamic Republic across Iran on Saturday.
Doctors held a protest rally on October 25 against the government’s policies of preventing medical care for the wounded protesters, using ambulances to transport security forces, and militarizing the hospitals.
According to information received security forces have put pressure on the victim’s family to deny her participation in the protest rally.
Earlier, Iran’s Medical Council announced Dr. Parisa Bahmani, a general surgery specialist, “died in a car crash and the news regarding her killing by security agents is not true. However, the death of Dr. Bahmani in under investigation and the result will be announced soon.”
Up to now, the Islamic Republic has not taken responsibility even for a single death during the demonstrations.
Iran’s government either says the dead people have jumped off the roofs, committed suicide, had some background disease, or lost their lives in car crashes.
The regime has killed over 250 people including tens of children during the protests since mid-September.
Friday coincided with the fortieth day ceremony after the death of several victims killed by security forces in September.
People in Zahedan and Saravan in the southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan province once again staged antigovernment protests after Friday prayers and chanted slogans against Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. One was killed and several injured after security forces opened fire on demonstrators.
During the Bloody Friday in Zahedan on September 30 security forces killed at least 93 people, and injured hundreds more. Zahedan is one of the few Sunni-majority cities in predominantly Shiite Iran.
Several Kurdish cities also witnessed anti-regime protests on Friday, with people mostly observing the funeral and commemoration ceremonies of their comrades who were killed in earlier demonstrations.
In Kermanshah, Saqqez, Qasr-e-Shirin, Mahabad, Babol and Arak people mourned for the losses and chanted anti-government slogans vowing to take revenge on the clerical rulers.
According to Norway-based Iran Human Rights organization, at least 253 people including 34 children have been killed by government forces during the nationwide protests so far.
Demonstrations started in mid-September, when a 22-year-old woman, Mahsa Amini was killed in custody of hijab or morality police.
The protests first erupted in Mahsa Amini’s hometown Saqqez and capital Tehran and soon spread to almost 150 other cities and towns and garnered support from Iranian expatriate communities around the world as well as foreign governments and officials.
Iran Human Rights Organization says on Thursday and Friday alone, at least 16 people, including 4 women, were killed by security forces in different cities, particularly in Kurdish regions.
Reports also say a great number of protesters have been arrested and subjected to physical and mental torture and ill-treatment.
“Many were under duress to force them to make false televised confessions, with some already aired. Protesters are also being held in unofficial buildings without any monitoring and supervision. Prisons and detention centers are filled over capacity, without access to sanitary facilities. Children under 18 are amongst those detained,” says Iran Human Rights Organization.
Videos received by Iran International shows people in Bukan, Mahabad, Sanandaj and several neighborhoods in Tehran continued their protests into the night and early hours of Saturday.
Two students were also abducted Friday night in a dormitory at Ahvaz Jundishapur University, southwest of Iran and in other universities, with details emerging on Saturday.
However, the Islamic Republic continues its customary policy of trying to link the protests to foreign countries and pretend the majority still supports the clerical regime.
On Friday, regime’s intelligence ministry and the IRGC released a joint statement blaming the CIA and Israel for creating chaos in Iran. The statement also accused the journalists who first covered the death of Mahsa Amini as “trained agents”.
Commander of Revolutionary Guard Hussein Salami threatened the protesters on Saturday saying that “This is the last day of protests. Don’t take to streets anymore!”
Salami also addressed the youths saying that they are deceived by the United States, asking them “to take off the uniforms of US soldiers,” thus accusing them of doing “the enemy’s” work.
It seems that the Islamic Republic is now scared by the huge turnout during protests and the total rejection of the regime by demonstrators. In the past two days hardliners in the government issue threatening statements; a tactic that might not work on determined protesters under social and economic pressure.