Iran blames the foreign enemy

Not a week had passed since the head of the Revolutionary Guard, Hussein Salami, declared the protests over when a new wave of mobilizations resurfaced in several regions of the country.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
05 November 2022 Saturday 18:30
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Iran blames the foreign enemy

Not a week had passed since the head of the Revolutionary Guard, Hussein Salami, declared the protests over when a new wave of mobilizations resurfaced in several regions of the country. The starting point was last Thursday, when groups of Iranians took to the streets of at least eight cities, including Tehran, to remember those who died in the first days of the protests, as mandated by Shiite Islam. Tradition says that on the 40th day after death, the family and those close to them visit their loved one in the cemetery. This was the case a week earlier with Mahsa Amini.

Tens of thousands of people then came to his grave in the Kurdish city of Saqez to pay their respects. The security forces again suppressed the congregations. This repression was especially strong in the southern province of Sistan-Baluchistan, where on Friday, after the prayer, the authorities attacked the protest mobilizations that arose in several cities. In the town of Kash at least 16 people died and 40 were injured.

This new wave of protests took place in a context where the pain, but also the indignation of a sector of society, are becoming greater. In recent days, arrests against lawyers and students – many of them women – have skyrocketed; hundreds of college students have been suspended and others threatened with suspension. The Oslo-based Human Rights Organization Iran Human Rights counts 304 deaths during these seven weeks. It is estimated that there are more than 15,000 detainees.

Another element that deepens the discomfort has to do with the attempts of the nizam, or system, to distort the truth about the cause of the deaths in the protests. On many occasions they have argued suicides or vehicle accidents. Many families have been pressured to repeat the official version or remain silent. But unlike in the past, this time they don't seem to be succeeding.

Husein, a 21-year-old student, explains that despite the fact that nobody knows what is going to happen, and that at times these protests seem to have an uncertain fate because "many people still do not risk sacrificing what little or much they have, especially from the economic point of view”, there is a lot of anger in the streets and the universities. "I am impressed by the bravery of the families of the victims, they are becoming engines of this fight," he said.

This new peak of protests, continued since Thursday, happened within the framework of the anniversary of the seizure of the US embassy in Tehran in 1979 that the authorities celebrate under the slogan "Against global arrogance". Every year thousands of young people are taken to Telegani Street, in the center of the capital, to march and carry out recreational activities –songs, plays…– that revolve around rejecting the United States and other countries considered enemies of Iran. The ceremony attracts people, especially students, but it is far from mobilizing the masses as it does on the annual anniversary of the revolution.

This November 4 has been different. The ceremony became a mobilization in support of the Islamic Republic, broadcast live on public television. More than students – this year they were not the majority – the march was dominated by middle-aged men and women, and dozens of members of the security forces who, in an unusual act, carried out public relations campaigns in order to project themselves as protectors of the people.

The attack attributed to the Islamic State in a mausoleum in Shiraz days ago appeared on dozens of posters that remembered 15 dead people, including three minors. "With the riots they are putting the security of the country at risk, they want Iran to be another Syria," explained Mujgan Hansaniar, a 22-year-old student, who repeated one of the ideas most present in the march.

In front of the old US embassy, ​​​​the president, Ebrahim Raisi, gave his speech, without alluding to the 40 young people, students as well, who have died during the protests. One focus was the international news networks – some broadcast in the Persian language, such as the BBC – which are accused of being behind the protests.

“The enemy has set his sights on the unity, integrity and calm of Iran. We must be vigilant,” Raisi warned in an unusual act. An Iranian president had never led this ceremony. But on this occasion the regime wanted to reinforce the message that the protests – or “riots” according to official rhetoric – are promoted from abroad, as the supreme leader had already said a day earlier. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei spoke of a "hybrid war" of the enemy that included the use of social networks.

The ceremony coincided with statements by US President Joe Biden. “Don't worry we are going to liberate Iran. They will free themselves very quickly,” he said. "Iran was liberated 43 years ago," Raisi replied in his speech. Just yesterday, the foreign minister assured that the United States had conveyed to them, “through diplomatic channels”, that it has no intention of changing the regime.