Iran's Economic, Foreign Policies Under Attack By Regime Insiders

Fathollahi, a commander of Basij militia unit in one of the neighborhoods of the capital Tehran, was killed Tuesday outside his home after being shot four times by a gunman who fled the scene on a motorcycle. He succumbed to his injuries at a hospital near his place of residence. 

He was the commander of the basij base of a mosque in Khani Abad in Tehran, District 12 downtown Tehran. 

Initial reports suggested that he was killed by the people opposed the clerical regime, but later sources close to the IRGC claimed that he was killed during a robbery. On Thursday, sources told Iran International that he was shot dead by IRGC intelligence agents due to his leniency towards protesters. 

According to our sources, the Intelligence Organization of the IRGC had become suspicious of Fatollahi in the past few weeks and had been monitoring him. The sources said that he refused to confront the demonstrators and suppress them during the protests in the area. The regime uses the Basij paramilitary militia extensively against demonstrators. They are hated by many citizens for acting as mercenaries who are willing to use violence indiscriminately against civilians.

Investigating his conduct, IRGC’s intelligence found out that he was not alone and was in contact with a group of the disgruntled members of security forces who tried to refrain from using deadly violence against protesters, including opening fire at them.

According to Iran International's sources, the Revolutionary Guard Intelligence Organization is worried about the growing number of security forces who refuse to confront the protesters and has taken measures to deal with this trend. 

He was apparently using a PlayStation device to keep in touch with a network of protesters. The assailant or someone who reportedly accompanied him took this PlayStation device too.

In the past months, there have been several reports that protesters in different cities have been using private chat rooms available in online games on Sony’s PlayStation network to coordinate street demonstrations. The number of games available on PlayStation is countless, and this issue makes it impossible to track and monitor their conversations.

It is not yet clear whether Fathollahi’s killing was a pre-meditated, deliberate full-fledged hit operation or only a collateral incident during the attempt to seize the PlayStation and arrest him. 

Earlier in June, Iran International’s sources said that a commander of IRGC Quds Force unit 840 -- Colonel Ali Esmailzadeh, who died under suspicious circumstances in Karaj on May 30, was an inside job. Esmailzadeh died when he fell from the roof of his home in Jahan Nama area of Karaj. 

He was a close colleague of Colonel Hassan Sayyad-Khodaei, the acting commander of the elite Qods Unit 840, who was shot dead behind the wheel of his car outside his home in Tehran on May 22 by two gunmen who fled the scene on a motorbike.

Addressing a group of cherrypicked women from his supporters on Wednesday, he rejected the facts that women are unveiling in public to defy the mandatory Islamic dress code – or hijab. It was forcible enforcement of hijab in society that triggered popular protests since September - the boldest challenge the Islamic Republic has ever faced.  

“The absolute brazenness of the West comes into sight when it presents itself as the forerunner of advocacy for women’s rights, whilst it is responsible for flurries of blows dealt to the dignity and prestige of women. This could be explained as utter shamelessness... This is what they suggest by women’s rights and freedom. This is by no means freedom, but rather utter slavery,” Khamenei said. 

Despite a massive number of videos and photos of women and schoolgirls unveiling and burning their headscarves in protest to the compulsory hijab as well as the clerical regime, Khamenei claimed that women did not remove their hijab during the protests. 

Khamenei’s refusal to acknowledge 110 days of ongoing protests, ignited by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the hands of hijab enforcement police, has led to an explosion of tweets and posts against him and the regime on social media Wednesday.

During the hour-long session, he almost exclusively talked about women and hijab but stopped short of stating his final opinion about how to enforce hijab in society, which could lead to more protests. Khamenei called hijab a religious must but added that those who do not wear “full hijab” should not be accused of irreligious. Describing hijab as the inevitable duty for all Muslim women, at the same time he emphasized that no Iranian woman should be labeled as non-religious or anti-revolutionary if she fails to fully honor the obligation.

He criticized the intermingling of men and women in Western societies, saying that contrary to the propagated notion, the coexistence has failed to diminish men’s carnal desires and has instead amplified it, resulting in women and girls being sexually harassed on streets, in workplaces, educational centers and even in military facilities. “Sex trade, sexual slavery, violation of all moral and humanitarian principles, and legalization of issues that are forbidden in all divine religions” are now widely prevalent across the West, Khamenei claimed. He failed to mention that all these problems exist also in Iran and “men’s carnal desires” are legalized in the Islamic Republic where they can legally have up to four wives and as many concubines as they desire. 

He also opted not to talk about the inequality of men and women in their basic rights. The Islamic Republic’s constitution clearly states that women are considered as inferior to men in terms of inheritance, testifying in courts and in many other areas according to the Islamic law or sharia. Women in Iran are not allowed to travel abroad without the permission of a male guardian, their share in inheritance is half of what male family members receive -- the financial compensation paid to survivors in cases of unnatural death, is also half of that of a man. 

Khamenei tried to sound progressive by underlining the importance of employing efficient, experienced, knowledgeable, and wise women at various levels of Iran’s decision-making apparatus, but practically women hardly ever manage to be appointed for top jobs, let alone the jobs that are totally banned for women, such as becoming a judge. He pointed to motherhood and homemaking as the two main and primary roles of each and every woman.

In December, the Islamic Republic was voted out of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) for policies contrary to the rights of women and girls.

In its 2022 report on the Global Gender Gap Index, which was released in July, the World Economic Forum placed Iran at the rock bottom only after Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Congo.

The Judiciary department in collaboration with ministry of communications will take legal action against "unauthorized sellers of the VPNs and circumvention tools," local media reported.

ISNA news website that published the news on Wednesday did not say who made the decision, however; many believe it could have been ordered by the Supreme National Security Council, or one of the intelligence services.

Since the beginning of protests in mid-September, the government has been severely restricting Internet access in general and access to popular social media platforms, such as Instagram, WhatsApp and others.

The government is extremely nervous that people use the Internet and social media to share news and images about protests, possibly motivating a larger segment of the population to join demonstrations.

However, restricting access also hurts internet-based businesses. Reports say up to 10 million people's livelihoods may be adversely affected by government’s Internet access denials and its ban on social media platforms.

This has prevented Internet-based businesses from marketing and selling their products and services. Economists believe it will have alarming repercussions for Iran's economy while the country is suffering from high inflation and a recession.

Officials, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, have repeatedly criticized free access to the internet in recent years, and have been trying to prevent the free flow of information by expanding the "national intranet".

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Iran’s former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who had kept silent during the recent anti-regime protests, has finally criticized the crackdown on protesters.

In a video published, Ahmadinejad said “the money spent on suppressing people should be spent on solving the country's problems.”

He also mentioned that claims by “corrupt gangs” of security and intelligence organs, who only want to “bug” people, are not valid because it is not possible to label everyone “anti-regime”.

Elsewhere in his remarks, he called on Islamic Republic officials to listen to people’s demands and solve their problems, saying otherwise “we may not have a chance to make up for it tomorrow.”

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was conspicuously nowhere to be seen within the past four months as Iran was experiencing its biggest uprising in more than four decades.

The camera-loving populist politician fell out with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in May 2011 over firing the leader's favorite intelligence Minister Heidar Moslehi, and even refused to go to work for a couple of weeks.

Since 2017, Ahmadinejad has often been critical of the regime and spoken about change. He has separated himself from the government as much as he possibly could, but lack of a large grassroot support left him isolated.

With his background, it is unlikely that the youngsters, who have taken to the streets, would see him or his vaguely defined populist plans as part of the bigger picture they have in mind for Iran's future.

Videos received by Iran International show people setting fire to Soleimani’s banners and posters in Tehran, Karaj, Zarinshahr, Rafsanjan, and his hometown Kerman.

The Islamic Republic through its propaganda tries to show Soleimani as a national hero, but many people believe he was guilty of war crimes against civilians in Syria and spreading violence in the region.

On January 3, 2020, the US military, on the order of President Donald Trump, killed Soleimani in a drone strike near Baghdad International Airport, saying that he had been "actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region."

In a Monday statement, the Iranian regime claimed that Washington conducted the killing of Soleimani with "false claims and pretexts, including under the guise of counter-terrorism" and in "naked violation of the tenets and principles of international law."

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on Sunday that nearly 60 US officials have been blacklisted by Tehran for their involvement in the assassination of Soleimani.

The US State Department told Iran International that Washington protects its citizens against possible retaliatory measures by the Islamic Republic.

At the same time, global efforts are underway to place the Revolutionary Guards in the list of terrorist organizations. The UK and Germany are set to announce the designation of the IRGC in the near future.