Iran's Top Clerics, Police Dismiss Protests, As Unrest Continues
Iran's top clerics, police chiefs and Friday imams spurned nationwide protests and attributed the ongoing uprising to foreign countries and economic problems.
Iran's top clerics, police chiefs and Friday imams spurned nationwide protests and attributed the ongoing uprising to foreign countries and economic problems.
During a meeting with Iran's Police Chief Hossein Ashtari in Qom on Friday, hardline Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi said the protests were the outcome of financial problems, people's access to social media and the intervention of foreign powers. He added that protests are likely to continue as long as these three elements exist.
Meanwhile, the ayatollah, who has been previously implicated in financial corruption cases, thanked the police for suppressing the protests.
Reports from Iran say the police chief has told the ayatollahs in Qom that the so-called morality police will resume its activities in November. The 22-year-old Mahsa Amini’s death in custody of the morality police in mid-September triggered the protests that are continuing in Iran for the third consecutive week and have turned into a nationwide uprising.
In another development, while all the footage on social media show the police and Basij militia firing shotguns at people at close range, Police Chief Hossein Ashtari claimed before the Friday prayers in Tehran that security forces have been using only plastic bullets. Meanwhile, he claimed that the police has arrested 17 protesters who were armed with combat weapons.
However, he confirmed that the police use live combat ammunitions while defending their headquarters. He further claimed that the police had done nothing wrong in the episode during which Mahsa Amini was killed. Ashtari further blamed foreign countries particularly the United States and Israel, monarchists and the Iranian opposition for engineering the protests. These are the usual suspects Iranian authorities blame for every problem from COVID-19 to the Iranian youths' disillusionment.
Former intelligence minister Ghorban Ali Dorri Najafabadi, who also made exactly the same accusations, also added that authorities were able to suppress and end the protests. While large street demonstrations have decreased since October 2, smaller manifestations, strikes and civil disobedience continue in many cities.
Friday prayer imams also continued their usual disinformation and misinformation about the nationwide protests. Kazem Sedighi, the Friday Imam in Tehran also blamed the United States and Israel for the nationwide uprising. He also charged some other regional states with instigating havoc in Iran. He said the protests were the work of infidels and imperialists. This comes while in recent days school children in Iran were most active in the uprising and the regime's security forces have killed at least 6 of them and claimed that they died in various accidents.
The imam in Qom, Alireza Arafi and the Friday prayers imam of Isfahan Abolhasan Mahdavi also blamed foreign-based Persian media as well as foreign countries as the main culprits behind the uprising. The Imam in Mashhad, the firebrand Ahmad Alamolhoda, however, as usual blamed Iranian women for every problem in the country and opined that "bad-hijab women give way to widespread promiscuity, abnormal sexual tendencies and Satanic liberties."
He charged that "the enemy which is against Iran's power and progress in technology, is behind the sedition that propagates the idea of doing away with hijab as a prelude to uprooting Islam in Iran."
It is hard to judge whether the Iranian clerics are truly overwhelmed by illusions and conspiracy theories, or they know the truth, but simply try to protect the establishment that feeds them and provides them with large financial resources they could not otherwise have.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada has designated Iran's IRGC leadership, adding that “we will restrict financial transactions with the Islamic Republic of Iran associated with the IRGC and the proxies that support them. These actions are some of the strongest measures anywhere against Iran.”
Trudeau also told Iranian women, from schoolgirls to grandmothers, "We stand with you, and we will continue to do so." He added, “To the strong, resilient, and proud Iranian Canadian community, we hear your voices. We heard your calls for action.”
“We’re using the most powerful tools at our disposal to crack down on Iran's brutal regime. We'll be pursuing a listing of IRGC leadership under our Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, making over 10,000 senior IRGC members inadmissible to Canada,” he said.
International reactions to Iran’s crackdown on ongoing popular protests are growing, with more and more countries condemning Tehran’s behavior, summoning envoys, or adopting resolutions.
He also touched upon the issue of money-laundering and the IRGC’s vast sway across the Middle East, saying, “We intend to massively expand targeted sanctions under Special Economic Measures Act to hold to account those people most responsible for Iran's egregious behavior. We are expanding Canada’s capacity to fight money laundering and illicit financial activity, as well as to crack down on foreign interference to protect Iranian Canadians and other communities in Canada.”
Deputy premier and finance minister Chrystia Freeland said, “The IRGC leadership are terrorists, the IRGC is a terrorist organization. And today by listing the Iranian regime and the IRGC leadership under Canada's Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, we're recognizing these facts."
However, the Canadian government did not officially designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization as many were expecting. Asked about why the government has refrained from such a step, Trudeau avoided a direct answer, saying that his government has found the best legal provisions to put strong sanctions, similar to measures implemented during the Bosnian and Rwandan conflicts.
On October 3, Canada imposed new sanctions on Iran under the Special Economic Measures Act, in response to gross human rights violations, including its systematic persecution of women and in particular, the egregious actions committed by Iran’s so-called ‘Morality Police’ and its leadership. Canada also implemented sanctions against Iran’s security and intelligence apparatus for its destabilizing activities across the region and the regime’s propaganda and misinformation apparatus.
The US State Department also said on Friday that it would continue to coordinate with its allies and partners on how to respond to Iran's "bloody crackdown" on protesters and its "state-sponsored violence" against women.
Earlier on Friday, 30 Conservative members of UK Houses of Commons and Lords stressed that the prospect of change in Iran has never been this strong, urging the UK government to recognize the right of the Iranian people to defend themselves by any means necessary and to overthrow the regime.
The European Parliament adopted a resolution Thursday condemning Mahsa Amini’s killing and voiced support for protests demanding change in the country.
The resolution instructed all member states “to use the mechanisms envisaged in the EU Guidelines on Human Rights Defenders to support and protect these individuals [activists, protesters], in particular women’s rights defenders and EU-Iranian dual nationals.”
US Envoy for Iran Rob Malley told NPR that "What US wants is a government in Iran that respects people's fundamental rights. It's not a policy of regime change. It's a policy of backing people who're protesting peacefully, because they want to be able not to wear a headscarf yet face oppressive system."
The resolution instructed all member states “to use the mechanisms envisaged in the EU Guidelines on Human Rights Defenders to support and protect these individuals [activists, protesters], in particular women’s rights defenders and EU-Iranian dual nationals.”
Iran’s foreign ministry Friday dismissed the resolution calling it “baseless and worthless” blaming extremist elements for pushing a campaign against the Islamic Republic.
On the same day, announcing new sanctions on some Iranian officials engaged in suppressing protests, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington will keep the pressure on Tehran.
“The United States will promote accountability for all those who direct and support actions that deny the people in Iran their rights to freedom of expression and of peaceful assembly. Today we designated seven security apparatus leaders responsible for the crackdown,” Blinken tweeted.
The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on seven Iranian officials over the shutdown of internet access and the crackdown on peaceful protesters.
The US Treasury Department in a statement said it imposed sanctions on Iran's minister of interior, Ahmad Vahidi; Communications Minister Eisa Zarepour; and Vahid Mohammad Naser Majid, the head of the Iranian Cyber Police, among others.
"The United States condemns the Iranian government’s Internet shutdown and continued violent suppression of peaceful protest and will not hesitate to target those who direct and support such actions," Under Secretary of the Treasury Brian Nelson said in the statement.
But White House NSC coordinator John Kirby told the CNN that the administration is still committed to the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal, which would release tens of billion of dollars for Iran. He told CNN, “We still believe diplomacy is the best path forward to prevent Iran from achieving nuke weapon. But we’re not close to a deal right now. I’d not be thinking there's sanctions relief in the offing anytime soon for Iranians right now.”
Iranian activists and other have been urging the Biden Administration to formally withdraw from the nuclear talks in the light of Tehran’s intransigence and its violent crackdown of protesters, especially the killing of young women.
US Envoy for Iran Rob Malley told NPR that "What US wants is a government in Iran that respects people's fundamental rights. It's not a policy of regime change. It's a policy of backing people who're protesting peacefully, because they want to be able not to wear a headscarf yet face oppressive system."
The European Union and its member states are putting significant pressure on Iran, by foreign ministers telling Tehran to stop its mistreatment of citizens. However, Iran’s foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has dismissed such calls, insisting that women are protected in his country and others should not intervene.
Addressing the European Parliament October 4, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said that along with European Council President Charles Michel he raised the issue directly with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and called for accountability for the death of Mahsa Amini and restraint in the government’s reaction to the demonstrations.
He stressed that member states will continue to consider all the options at their disposal, including “restrictive measures,” at the next Foreign Affairs Council to address the killing of Mahsa Amini and the way Iranian security forces have been responding to the demonstrations.
“Unfortunately, it did not happen," Borrell said, adding that “Numerous reports clearly show that the response of Iranian security and police forces has been disproportionate and resulted in tens of dozens of lives lost.”
Expressing admiration for demonstrations he said, “These are facts, these are not opinions. These are facts. In the streets of Iran, the repression of the demonstrators has left behind tens of people killed.”