Khamenei Meets Cherrypicked Baluchis In Bid To Calm Tensions
Iran’s Supreme Leader met a group of Baluch people Monday in a bid to pacify the community which has been holding protests since a government massacre last September.
Iran’s Supreme Leader met a group of Baluch people Monday in a bid to pacify the community which has been holding protests since a government massacre last September.
The meeting in Tehran, which had been advertised by state media for weeks, included people from Sistan-Baluchestan Province where most Baluchis live and its neighboring province of South Khorasan. Rumors circulated that khamenei's office offered money for people to attend.
As Iranians are readying for rallies on the anniversary of last year’s protests, there are reports that the office of the Supreme Leader is especially worried about the protests among the Sunni population of the country, more than 10 million people who are mainly Baluch or Kurd.
Since earlier this month, regime-affiliated media had been reporting that Khamenei may meet with some of the families of the victims of Bloody Friday, the massacre that killed around 90 civilians in the wake of Mahsa Amini's death. Residents have been holding anti-regime demonstrations for the past 49 weeks unabated. Bloody Friday, the suppression of protests on September 30, 2022, saw citizens, including women and children lose their lives due to direct gunfire from military and security forces, with many succumbing to head and chest injuries.
The Sunni Friday Prayer Imam of Zahedan, Mowlavi Abdolhamid, persistently called for an investigation into the massacre and the prosecution of those responsible. However, to date, no one has been charged or tried in connection with the incident. The outspoken cleric, officially known as Sheikh Abdolhamdid Esmailzehi, is largely popular because of his willingness to challenge the absolute authority of Khamenei. Late last year, a hacktivist group leaked documents indicating that Khamenei is dismayed by Abdolhamid’s unrelenting criticism, and has ordered underlings to tarnish Abdolhamid’s reputation to diminish his influence.
The advocacy group Haalvsh, which reports on issues and events in Sistan-Baluchestan province, said that people of provincial capital Zahedan have written slogans on the walls of the city against those meeting with Khamenei, noting that the attendees by no means represent the people of the province. Many were referred to as “disgraced" and traitors to the martyrs. An X (formerly twitter) campaign was also launched against the meeting, trending a hashtag translated as “No to meeting the dictator.”
Khamenei’s speech during the meeting was predictably trite, with the aging ruler repeating his usual jargon, deflecting blame for all the failings of the regime onto the US and its allies, while at the same time claiming that Western powers are in decline with new regional and global powerhouses on the rise. “The arrogant power of America and some European countries has weakened and will become weaker,” he said.
“Our information tells us that the American government has created a crisis group with the mission to search for the points which they think can be used to provoke a crisis in Iran. With contemplation and study, they have concluded that there are several crisis points in Iran: ethnic differences, religious differences, and the issue of gender and women, which should be provoked to create a crisis,” Khamenei claimed.
It was not clear if he was referring to a particular group or just repeating conspiracy theories about US supported groups and organizations.
“All people from different ethnicities and religion groups should join together. Since there is a clear direction, this unity is important," Iran's ruler added.
Iran International sources report that regime agents have set up nighttime checkpoints amid a significant buildup of security forces in city centers.
These measures include enhanced protection for government buildings, a substantial increase in law enforcement personnel, and plainclothes motorcycle patrols, according to eyewitness accounts.
The regime has also erected numerous banners in major city centers warning citizens of severe penalties for dress code violations, seemingly as a deliberate effort to instill fear and discourage potential protests.
Last year's brutal crackdown by the regime during the protests following Amini's death, resulted in the deaths of over 500 civilians, with thousands more sustaining injuries and tens of thousands imprisoned.
Despite the intensified intimidation campaign, several calls for protests and strikes have been issued online by major dissident figures and groups. In a joint statement, eight labor and civil organizations reaffirmed their commitment to keeping the revolutionary movement ignited by the death of Mahsa Jina Amini in police custody. They called upon the people to take to the streets, launch strikes, and hold gatherings on her death anniversary on September 16.
The group of eight organization referred to the anniversary protests as an opportunity for a "fresh start" in the course of the revolutionary movement, stating, "With the strength of our struggle, we will turn the anniversary of the Women, Life, Freedom movement into our annual public holiday."
The signatories of the statement include the Council for Organizing Contract Workers' Protests in the Oil Industry, the Association of Electricity and Metalworkers in Kermanshah, the Follow-up Committee for Workers' Associations, and the Independent Voice of Steel Workers.
A few days after a call for action by Iran's exiled prince Reza Pahlavi, who has become a leading opposition figure in the current wave of protests, exiled Queen Farah Pahlavi seconded the call for Iranians to unite against the regime.
The queen also urged Iran's security and military forces not to stand against the people and protect the lives of protesters against the regime's suppression apparatus. Pahlavi hailed Mahsa Amini as a symbol for all those who over the past 44 years have strived to weaken religious tyranny and redress the setbacks inflicted on the country by the Islamic Republic, stating, "This shared pain is our commitment to achieving a common cure."
Calls for national rallies on the anniversary of protests have rekindled the "Woman, Life, Freedom" movement, which also embodies popular anger against poverty and various forms of discrimination, particularly gender-based and sexual discrimination, for over four decades.
For several months, the Supreme National Security Council has convened various meetings to prepare for potential public protests on the anniversary of the people's uprising. These meetings have led to the detention of family members of activists and political figures. However, the regime has yet to officially disclose the exact number of detainees, their charges, detention locations, or the authorities responsible for the detentions.
Nevertheless, according to the Human Rights Organization Hengaw, at least 70 family members of detainees, including nine children under the age of 18, have been arrested in various cities since the beginning of this year (March 22).
Based on information obtained by Iran International, security entities have also summoned some participants of last year's protests and are harassing the families of dead protesters to discourage them from partaking in protests.
These individuals have been pressured to remain in their homes during the week that coincides with September 16. Intelligence agencies have issued warnings that engagement in "any kind of activity in the virtual or public space" during the period will result in detention.
However, as noted in a Khabar Online report, also carried by a few other Iranian websites, the Raisi administration at times appears to be a blend of Ahmadinejad's ideas with his reformist predecessor Mohammad Khatami's slogans. The part of the Raisi administration's discourse which is reminiscent of President Khatami's rhetoric is Raisi's frequent allusions to the ideas of Justice and Republic, Khabar Online wrote.
Apart from his political and economic failures, the report maintained that Raisi's attempt to create a new or copied discourse has also failed, though not entirely due to his actions. The idea of a Republic in Iran has been torpedoed by the government's intervention in elections and its undermining of the role of elected bodies such as the parliament and the Assembly of Experts that was supposed to control the Supreme Leader's behavior.
Nonetheless, the Strategic Studies Center, a research body that operates under the President’s Office published a magazine at the end of the first year of Raisi's presidency to outline his discourse. However, the publication did not grab any attention, as all discussions at the time and later were focused on the government's inefficiency and its failure to sort out domestic and foreign problems.
The publication, according to Khabar Online, aimed to emulate what political scientists and economists had compiled to define President Khatami's discourse. However, some of Iranian academics said openly that real progress under President Raisi was way below the level of the discourse. Nonetheless, what Raisi's men put together also used Ahmadinejad's populist rhetoric.
Conservative analyst Nasser Imani pointed out that what Raisi's aides assembled as his discourse does not align with his behavior and his government's performance. Imani pointed out that the government's overall performance, marked by the infiltration of fake revolutionaries in the government. Imani even pointed out the "paradoxical conflict" between Raisi's performance and the ideas of justice and republican principles. This, he said makes Raisi's statements hard to believe.
Meanwhile, in an interview with Rouydad24, Morteza Ezzati, an academic at the Teachers Training University in Tehran remarked that "The Raisi administration is incapable of detecting the country's problems and making decisions to solve them." Referring to the ill-defined ideals and discourse of the administration, Ezzati added, "No ideal is significant enough for which the government could put pressure on the people."
Ezzati further suggested that infiltrators who do not wish for the country's current situation to improve exacerbate the situation to prevent an agreement between Iran and the West that could help end the country’s economic crisis. He views the presence of infiltrators in the government as the most likely explanation for the current political impasse and economic crisis.
Explaining the impact of ultraconservatives on Iranian society and the country's international relations, Ezzati gave the example of advocates of BRICS as a substitute for a nuclear deal with West. He pointed out, "BRICS is an agreement between governments, but it cannot reduce the impact of sanctions because sanctions are not imposed by the private sector. With or without BRICS, any entity in China trying to engage in further trade with Iran will inevitably come under US sanctions."
He reiterated, "The obstacles to trade will be eliminated only with the coming to power of a government in Iran that attaches a high priority to coming to terms with the international order." On the other hand, he argued that "current decision-makers in Iran cannot make decisions that can overcome the economic impasse by ending the sanctions."
Ezzati concluded by stating, "Raisi's government is not capable of advancing a dialogue to secure Iran's interests because it cannot make decisions. However, under excessive pressure, it may take negotiations seriously."