Iranian Officials Brag About Gaza As Khamenei Appears Cautious
While some top Iranian officials are trying to distance Tehran from Hamas and attacks on US bases, others continue their rhetoric against Israel and the United States.
While some top Iranian officials are trying to distance Tehran from Hamas and attacks on US bases, others continue their rhetoric against Israel and the United States.
Iran’s ruler Ali Khamenei attempted to counter international reports suggesting Iran's role in organizing pro-Hamas rallies in major European and US cities during a speech on Wednesday. He humorously dismissed the claims, saying it's as if the Basij militia of the Revolutionary Guard had branches in London and Paris.
Khamenei also appealed to all Muslim countries to boycott Israel, without signaling any willingness to directly render military assistance to Hamas.
In the same speech, Khamenei even distorted Iran's modern history by denying that the seizure of the US embassy in Tehran in 1979 ruined relations between Tehran and Washington for more than four decades.
This was, of course, tantamount to admitting that anti-Israeli rallies in Iran were stage-managed by Khamenei loyalists, although the rallies have been too small to attract any media attention.
As a former military commander Ghorban Ali Salavatian observed in his tweets, "These days, the social media pages of hardliners are full of videos that show pro-Palestinian demonstrations in Scotland, Morocco, New York, Sweden, Turkey and even Denmark. In Iran some five million people have registered to go to war in Gaza but none of them would take part in a pro-Palestinian rally." He wrote in another tweet: "The reason for this is that the Iranian society has been divided into outsiders and insiders, who beat on battle drums that the unhappy outsiders refuse to hear."
He was referring to the total monopoly of power by hardliners and the increasing ideological rigidity of the regime that has further alienated a populace disgruntled by economic hardships and lack of basic freedoms.
In another development, Mahmoud Abbaszadeh Meshkini, a member of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Relations Committee, emphasized that opposing Israel's aggressions aligns with the Islamic Republic's ideals. He added that Iran and other regional states will not tolerate Israel's atrocities. Regarding US attacks on Iranian interests in Syria, he stated, "Iran will respond to these attacks globally," emphasizing Iran's strategic planning to retaliate. He concluded, "We will target the US from locations they cannot fathom."
In fact, the US conducted only one retaliatory strike against an IRGC target in Syria last week after more than two dozen drome and rocket attacks by Iran’s proxies on US bases in Iraq and Syria.
Asked how Iran is going to respond to Israel, Meshkini said, "The Islamic Republic will not reveal its secrets, but if Israel continues ground attacks on Gaza, Iran will hit Israel from somewhere Israelis cannot imagine." He was obviously talking about attacks from southern Lebanon and Yemen on the same day that missiles fired by Houthi forces in Yemen landed in Jordan rather than Israel. Meshkini then revealed what he called a secret and said that "the Houthis in Yemen, Hezbollah in Lebanon and other forces in Iraq as well as other forces in Syria are prepared to attack Israel if it crosses our red lines."
At the same time, Iran's Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi said in an interview with reformist daily Sharq in Tehran that "The attacks on US forces in Syria has nothing to do with Iran." Vahidi added that attacks on the US forces are quite natural as Muslim nations in the region are not indifferent to the fate of the oppressed people of Palestine and fulfil their responsibilities to defend Palestinians. Vahidi further claimed that "It is the United States that has given the green light to Israel to attack Gaza and is managing the Israeli offensive."
Meanwhile, in another comment in defiance of Khamenei's more cautious posturing, Iranian lawmaker Ahmad Hossein Fallahi told Didban Iran website that "Some 150 Iranian lawmakers, many of whom are ex-IRGC officers who have fought in Syria, have expressed their readiness to be deployed to Gaza to fight against Israel."
Fallahi further insisted that Iran will continue to target US bases in Syria and the region. He said "the United States has 150 bases in the region within the reach of Iranian forces. We will target them if America makes a wrong move."
Another tragic victim of state violence, Armita was laid to rest in Tehran’s cemetery after about a month in a coma due to brain injury inflicted during her encounter with Hijab enforcers deployed at the capital’s subway stations.
Two of her friends, who were denied visiting Armita in her last days at Fajr military hospital during her last days, talked to Iran International about their friend, who has been the latest martyr of Iranians' fight against the Islamic regime and its ideologies.
Fearing the wrath of the regime, all of them spoke on condition of anonymity due to the security risks involved. A high ranking police officer was always present in Armita’s room in those final days and her friends and family were neither allowed to visit nor take photos as she lay lifeless in hospital.
The Islamic Republic continues to try and exonerate its hijab enforcers from the incident to avoid the mass protests that would ensue as they did following the death to Mahsa Amini, whose death bore chilling similarities to that of Armita. Some doctored footage however, has failed to convince Iranians.
In both cases, Iranian authorities imposed a full ban on reporting about Armita's death, families intimidated into not speaking to the media.
The death of Armita has reignited anti-regime sentiments with people once more chanting slogans from their rooftops and windows the night she was pronounced dead. The regime can only hope that simmering tensions do not result in a repeat of the uprising of 2022 which became the greatest challenge to the regime since its establishment in 1979.
No matter the censorship and intimidation, the public already made their minds up. One of Armita's friends, in response to Iran International's question about what they think happened to Armita, said, "The same thing that the Islamic Republic doesn't want us to say; the same thing that happened to Mahsa."
Since the day Mahsa Amini died in the hands of the regime’s hijab enforcers, a growing number of Iranian women have been defying the Islamic Republic's compulsory hijab rules. Losing control, the regime has leveled up its hijab enforcement and updated its laws to criminalize non-compliance via harsher penalties but has failed to re-establish compliance.
Another one of her friends recounted a story where Armita was confronted by a cleric asking why she was not covering her head. She boldly told the cleric, “Did I ask you why you wrapped a fabric around your head?” referring to his turban, adding, “Then, you have no right to tell me why I didn't!”
During her comatose days and after her death, tiny details of Armita’s life have been trickling online through her family and friends. The teenager, who voluntarily made all the walls of her school into amateur art, has her own room decorated with miscellaneous memorabilia. An old stamp with the photo of Iran’s last shah Mohammad-Reza Pahlavi on her wall has especially attracted the attention of Iranian royalists, who claim Armita was cognizant of Iran’s recent history.
According to her friends, Armita liked horror movies, was a fan of Iran’s Reds football club and Spain’s Barcelona. Rooted in her heritage, she loved Zereshk Polo Morgh (Iranian rice with barberry and chicken) and her regular hangout was the Frost Flower (Gol-e Yakh) café at Tehran’s Pirouzi street where she lived.
It remains unknown what exactly happened on October 1 but for the Iranian public, it is a painful case of history repeating. No matter what killed Armita, she was an Iranian not represented by the Islamic Republic and the latest – but not the last -- killed for that.
Reformist commentator Abbas Abdi believes that the ultraconservatives are working to marginalize traditional clerics, traditional conservatives, and the so-called neo-cons around Majles Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf in preparation for the upcoming parliamentary elections in March.
He suggests that this plan to eliminate or, at the very least, silence these three conservative groups will contribute to greater inefficiency within the Iranian government. This inefficiency, in turn, is likely to lead to increased dissent and exacerbate the existing political impasse in Iran. Abdi argues that continued political purification will disrupt the current political balance, potentially reaching a point where conflicts and clashes become inevitable.
The prospect of facing political purification in Iran is taken very seriously in the country's political circles. Even political heavyweight and senior member of the Expediency Council, Mohammad Reza Bahonar, who is running for the next parliament, expresses concerns about potential disqualification by the hardliner Guardian Council. He fears that despite his non-official position within the government, he could be eliminated from political participation. Bahonar also believes that the Guardian Council should consider endorsing the qualifications of reformist figures who oppose conservatives. Bahonar suggested that a politician such as former Foreign Minister Javad Zarif could be the leading figure of a list of reformist candidates.
In the 2020 parliamentary and 2021 presidential elections, the Council disqualified hundreds of candidates for no real reason, including top challengers of Ebrahim Raisi, who then glided into the presidency in a low-turnout vote.
According to Khabar Online website, Bahonar, although somewhat removed from everyday politics, still wields significant influence in the Iranian political landscape. There is talk of him contemplating the creation of an all-encompassing political party with members from across the political spectrum, even though he acknowledges the possibility that ultraconservatives might try to eliminate him from the political scene. He has suggested that figures like Javad Zarif and Ali Larijani could play leading roles for reformist and moderate conservative candidates.
Another member of the Expediency Council, Mohammad Sadr, criticized Iran's hardliners who label themselves "revolutionaries" and questioned the meaning of being a revolutionary after a revolution. He referred to some hardliners who supported the controversial hijab bill as "possible infiltrators" and highlighted that the revolution has generated numerous challenges. Sadr emphasized that being a revolutionary should not be confused with being a radical.
He charged that "Many demands for which we took part in the revolution have not been met. These include the calls for freedom and justice."
In another development, Entekhab news website quoted former President Hassan Rouhani as saying that "Many people have become disillusioned and turned their backs to the regime because they saw that some of the promises made by officials were baseless." He insisted that in such a situation it is essential that political parties are allowed to be active and represent various groups of people."