Posts
Iran's
"Iron Fist" Unleashed: Revolutionary Guards Take Over
Security As Israel Praises "Freedom Fighters"
1 January, 2018
Tehran's iron fist has been unleashed. On Monday, the Wall Street Journal's Farnaz Fassihi - a well-known Iran watcher who has been following protests inside the country closely, reported that Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has announced it is taking charge of security in Tehran after nationwide protests entered their fifth day, and as new reports of gunmen amidst the crowds of demonstrators have emerged.
The IRGC announcement was first reported by Iranian media outlets on Monday - a day after the IRGC reportedly warned that anti-government protesters will face the nation's "iron fist" if the unrest continues. Though demonstrations did not initially center on the country's capital, instead popping up last Thursday mostly in a handful of cities across the ultra-conservative northwest Khorasan Province, fresh videos purporting to show angry crowds confronting security forces in Tehran have emerged, and state-run media also reports that a police officer was shot and killed Monday.
Image via "Iran Freedom" - a media account associated with the controversial opposition in exile group, People's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK). via Twitter
Image via "Iran Freedom" - a media account associated with the controversial opposition in exile group, People's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK). via Twitter
According to Reuters at least three other policemen were wounded after a man opened fire with a rifle in the midst of demonstrations:
The killing of the police officer happened when a demonstrator opened fire with a hunting rifle in the central city of Najafabad, police spokesman Saeed Montazer al-Mahdi was quoted as saying by state TV. Three policemen were wounded. It was not clear when the incident took place.State TV said armed demonstrators on Sunday had tried to seize police and military bases but were stopped by “strong resistance from security forces.” It gave no further details and there was no independent confirmation.
This comes after at least 13 people have been reported killed across the country - mostly demonstrators either reported shot or in a couple of instances accidentally killed by other rioters. But new reports of government buildings and vehicles being burned, along with today's death of a police officer, as well as claims of armed rioters among the opposition certainly indicates dramatic escalation of what many analysts say are protests driven fundamentally by widespread anger over economic mismanagement and corruption.
Over the weekend, Brigadier-General Esmail Kowsari, the IRGC's deputy security chief in Tehran, told the ISNA news agency: "If people came into the streets over high prices, they should not have chanted those slogans and burned public property and cars." Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps has long been the country's most elite military group, and reports directly to the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei - with a mission of "safeguarding the revolution" which first brought the Ayatollahs to power in 1979.
Thus these latest reports of the paramilitary group taking charge in Tehran indicates the government is increasingly choosing to view the demonstrators as unlawful rioters and potential armed criminals engaged in destruction and aggressive acts targeting authorities.
It was also previously reported that Iran had imposed "temporary" restrictions on social networks Telegram and Instagram in order "to maintain tranquility and security of society", according to a government source quoted in state run IRIB. Videos have since emerged of Tehran demonstrators attacking what are said to be IRGC militiamen engaged in suppressing protests.
Demonstrators in Iran stopped an Islamic Revolutionary Guard van carrying arrested protesters.
City: Tehran
Cameraman yells: "Topple it!"#IranProtests
In one widely reported video, protesters claimed to detain an IRGC member after he attempted to use an electric shock baton. They are shown stripping the guard's clothes off in an act of defiance and public humiliation.
Ten people killed in night of Iran protests violence, state TV reports telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/01/0…
Meanwhile, unconfirmed videos purporting to show Iranian security forces firing on demonstrators have increased on social media:
#IranProtests: Direct shots at protesters by regime's repressive forces in the city of Tuyserkan Western #Iran. Monday January 1, 2017. People courageously and under fire are trying to evacuate the injured and killed, this is Tuyserkan in the Western province of #Hamedan.
#IRGC announced it is taking charge of #Tehran security. Iron fist is out. #IranProtests #Iran #تظاهرات_سراسریtwitter.com/roozarooznews/…
And late Monday the head of a prominent Iranian opposition group in exile which has close ties to Washington and runs its own paramilitary organization issued a call for the UN Security Council to act: "I urge the UN Security Council, the US and the EU to undertake urgent actions to prevent the Iranian regime’s slaughter of protesters. The clerical regime has killed and wounded dozens of demonstrators in cities across Iran over the past five days," tweeted Maryam Rajavi of People's Mujahedin of Iran (Mujahedin-e Khalq), an organization which has for decades devoted itself to the violent overthrow of the Iranian government.
Rajavi had previously in the day condemned western and UN "inaction" over the situation in Iran.
I urge the UN Security Council, the US and the EU to undertake urgent actions to prevent the Iranian regime’s slaughter of protesters. The clerical regime has killed and wounded dozens of demonstrators in cities across #Iran over the past five days#IranProtests
Also on Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a televised message directed at Iran via YouTube wishing "the Iranian people success in their noble quest for freedom" - something which is likely to have an adverse effect on protests, considering that authorities in Tehran have accused protest leaders of serving the interests of and being in league with foreign "enemies" like Saudi Arabia and Israel.
For this reason Netanyahu expressly denied that Israel was responsible for the unrest, as previously suggested by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in a speech given earlier in the day.
"I heard today Iran's President Rouhani's claim that Israel is behind the protests in Iran," said Netanyahu in the video. "It's not only false. It's laughable - unlike Rouhani, I will not insult the Iranian people. Brave Iranians are pouring into the streets. They seek freedom. They seek justice. The seek the basic liberties that have been denied to them for decades."
Netanyahu further accused the Islamic Republic of mistreating its people and wasting its money to "spread hate" abroad instead of taking care of its people. The unexpected speech came after Israeli ministers were previously told to "minimize" their comments on the situation in Iran - though in an irony not lost on many commentators, Israel has long lobbied the US and UN to enact crippling economic sanctions which have served to make the plight of the common Iranian citizenry worse.
Netanyahu's speech also came the same day that a viral Times of Israel story claimed the United States has quietly given Israel the green light to assassinate Iran's top military officer, Iranian Revolutionary Guards al-Quds Force commander Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani.
An Iranian official claimed on Sunday that two people who died during anti-government protests in Dorud were targeted by foreign agents and not Iranian police.
In an interview on state television, the Deputy Governor of Lorestan Province blamed demonstration violence on “enemies of the revolution, Takfiri groups and foreign agents…
No shots were fired by the police and security forces.”
This statement opposed reports of security forces allegedly opening fire on protesters in
Dorud on Saturday during the third day of nationwide anti-government protests against rising
food prices, unemployment and alleged corruption.
Footage showed protesters marching in different cities across the country and burning public property, including an Iranian flag.
Prices of food staples such as eggs in Iran have increased by up to 40 percent in recent days, according to reports.
The protests mark the most significant display of dissent in the Islamic Republic since
pro-reform rallies in 2009.
Iran:
At least 14 people killed in protests
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The
death toll from anti-government protests across Iran has reportedly
risen to 14.
Iranian
state media says most of the deaths occurred on Sunday night.
The
Iranian government says people have the right to express their
discontent but violence is unacceptable.
Al
Jazeera’s Natasha Ghoneim reports.
Iran: At least 14 people killed in protests
The death toll from anti-government protests across Iran has reportedly risen to 14.
Iranian state media says most of the deaths occurred on Sunday night.
The Iranian government says people have the right to express their discontent but violence is unacceptable.
Al Jazeera’s Natasha Ghoneim reports.
BREAKING!!! "Protesters" shoot dead Iranian police officer, injure another 3
1
January, 2018
NAJAFABAD,
Iran - Iranian police have announced that a police officer was
killed and another three injured by what can be classified now as
terrorists.
The
incident occurred in Najafabad in Iran's central Isfahan province,
with no further details given.
Protests
across Iran have occurred for days now. In what was initially calls
for economic reforms and a stamp down on corruption, protesters
have descended to violence, sacking government buildings and
attacking police stations and military outposts.
13
protesters have so far died, mostly as responses by security forces
when being attacked.
War
hawks in the US and Israel have begun encouraging regime change in
Iran in scenes that are reminiscent to Syria in 2011 when peaceful
protests were hijacked by an armed uprising pushing for regime
change.
Venezuela
also experienced this method of subversion in 2017 but successfully
resisted the foreign interference and support for right-wing
violent and reactionary mobs.
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