Iran’s Khamenei, Supporters Make Strange Claims Amid Protests

Hossein Suri is currently in La Nucía accompanying the Iranian team to participate in the IBA Youth Men’s and Women’s World Boxing Championships.

According to the reports received by Iran International, Suri has raised harsh criticisms against the Islamic Republic announcing that from now on he considers himself the “Head of Boxing Federation of Free Iran.”

Hossein Suri, who is from Sistan and Baluchestan province, had repeatedly criticized the killing and suppression of citizens by the government on his Instagram page.

Based on information received from the national team's camp, passports, cell phones and the money of all members of the national team have been confiscated by the accompanying Iranian security guards. Suri has also said that members of the team are also free to defect.

Around 30 Iranian athletes have defected in recent years, seeking asylum in other countries.

In addition to dress code restrictions, another issue forcing Iranian athletes to defect is Tehran’s policy of not allowing them to compete against Israelis.

Many Iranian athletes have also displayed solidarity with 2022 protest movement at international games despite threats of punishment.

Authorities have made serious threats against athletes and other celebrities to stop them from public displays of solidarity with protesters but to no avail.

The authoritarian ruler claimed Saturday that the “riots” will come to an end, saying that the protesters “are too inferior to be able to harm the establishment.”

In a speech during a meeting with a group of people from the central city of Esfahan, Khamenei said “now that the organizers failed to bring the people to the scene, they want to tire the officials, but they are wrong because these mischiefs make the people hate them more.”

Khamenei’s strange denial of reality of the nationwide uprising and his unfounded accusations are manifestations of his usual tactic of blaming others and refusing to take responsibility. While he endorsed the 2015 nuclear accord with world powers, he immediately condemned it as soon as former US president Donald Trump withdrew from the deal.

While over 400 people have been killed by regime’s security forces since the start of the uprising, Khamenei failed to utter a single word about the victims, but said “rioters” have killed government forces, which he claimed will anger the nation.

Trying to link the popular protests to attempts to undermine the religious beliefs of the people he stated, “Enmity with all the wishes and sanctities of the Iranian nation means enmity with Islam.”

“Burning the holy Quran, setting fire to mosques, torching the national flag and disrespecting the national anthem revealed the real identity of the perpetrators,” he added.

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Officials have been making similar unfounded claims about protesters burning mosques or the Quran, although many do reject the Islamic Republic’s flag and anthem.

Khamenei’s remark about the national anthem referred to athletes refusing to sing the Islamic Republic’s anthem during matches following the death of Mahsa Amini, the young woman whose killing in police custody triggered the unrest.

Many athletes have expressed solidarity with the people either in bold public statements or through different forms of disobedience.

Authorities have made serious threats against athletes and other celebrities to stop them from public displays of solidarity with protesters, but many have defied the warnings.

Stressing that those “deceived” must be differentiated from those “perpetrating” the protests, Iran’s ruler went on to say that “the perpetrators of crimes, murders, and those who threatened to set fire to shops and cars should be punished accordingly.”

“Of course, the punishment should be meted out by a strong, healthy and motivated judiciary, and no one has the right to punish arbitrarily and at will,” he added. However, the Judiciary Khamenei referred to is only accountable to him and disregards due process of law during trials of dissidents.

Khamenei’s call for punishing demonstrators comes as thousands have been arrested in the last two months, with some being at risk of receiving the death sentence for security-related charges, such as “enmity against God and corruption on earth” in sham trials at Revolutionary Courts.

While Iran has been in economic crisis for more than a decade, Khamenei again blamed the protests on “enemies” who cannot see the Islamic Republic’s “progress.”

However, in part of his comments, he also blamed the current situation on officials who did not pay attention to his advice for resolving economic vows.

Khamenei’s advice has been isolation and self-reliance instead of resolving foreign policy issues and improving ties with the West.

“From an economic point of view, the past decade was not a good one and if they [officials] had followed those recommendations and taken the necessary measures, the situation of the country and people would have been different,” he claimed.

This remark was also a misleading statement, as Khamenei alone is responsible for pushing on with Iran’s nuclear program that has brought on sanctions, harming the economy for more than a decade.

Tehran Friday prayers Leader Mohammad Javad Haj Ali Akbari went to Zahedan this week as Khamenei's envoy to try to pacify growing opposition among Sunnis after two attacks by the IRGC on Friday prayers in Zahedan and Khash where more than 100 Sunnis were killed. Following his meeting with prominent Sunni Leader Mawlana Abdolhamid, Akbari harshly criticized him and other Sunni clerics for being ungrateful for what he said the Islamic Republic has done for them.

Reports from Tehran said that during the meeting Abdolhamid complained about government discrimination against Sunnis and said that Khamenei has not replied to several of his letters.

Finally, the Sunni leader spoke publicly. Abdolhamid wrote in a November 16 tweet: "We expected the Leader's envoy to see the realities on the ground, condemn the crimes that were committed in Zahedan's bloody Friday, and appease the family members of those who have been killed or wounded in the attacks and to uphold their rights rather than threatening and intimidating the oppressed people."

Before haj Ali Akbari's visit, some reports said that Abdolhamid had refused to see him. Regardless of this, there have been no photos published and it remains a mystery whether the meeting took place or not. What is certain, however, is that Khamenei's envoy threatened the Sunni leader. Abdolhamid's tweet was liked by more than 22,000 users and it was retweeted over 3,000 times.

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Social media activists have posted a video of a long motorcade of SUVs escorting Abdolhamid and said threatening or arresting the Sunni leader was impossible.

In another development, on November 9, the picture of a fatwa [religious decree] issued by Iranian reformist religious leader Ayatollah Assadollah Bayat-Zanjani was posted on social media. In the fatwa, Zanjani, who is a "source of emulation" [one of the highest ranks among Shiite Clerics in Iran] stated that "It is obligatory for every Muslim to defend against plainclothes agents who attack protesters with guns or knives." The fatwa was issued in response to a question about what Iranian protesters should do if they are attacked by armed plainclothes officers.

Subsequently, the Cultural Council of the Qom Seminary sent a letter to Ayatollah Bayat Zanjani and Ayatollah Alavi Brooujerdi and a number of other Shiite clerics and threatened them for defying Khamenei's orders and rule.

The letter said that the clerics have ignored Khamenei's previous order to submit to his rule and compensate for their mistakes.

The rude letter further told the Ayatollahs they deserved this warning for the untimely opening of their mouths. It further told the clerics not to be deceived by the enemies who might praise their actions in order to take advantage of them.

"During the recent sedition, you have once again proven with your untimely statements to lack insight and intuition. We hope that as Supreme Leader Khamenei has said, your action is the product of your ignorance. You should repent your divisive and provocative statements that have given way to riot and insecurity and made many families mourn for their loved ones," the letter said.

The letter further called on the clerics “to take a lesson from the fate of the revolution's enemies.” It then listed a number of state officials and clerics who were sent to exile or house arrest because of their opposition to the Islamic Republic and its leaders. The letter warned that the window of opportunity for repenting will not remain open for long.

This is the first time in the history of the Islamic Republic that such threats are made openly, publicly and without reservations against senior ayatollahs.

In a letter issued by a high-ranking army commander, he demanded daily reports on the arrest of army personnel and their families during protests, as well as paying attention to "subversive actions" against military facilities.

Hossein Safaralizadeh, commander of an army base in the southern city of Shiraz, has also mentioned that the army’s inspectorate has also warned other commanders in three provinces of Esfahan, Yazd and Charmahal-Bakhtiari to follow up on such cases on daily basis.

This letter may suggest that the number of army personnel who are showing sympathy toward the protest movement, or family members participating in protests is on the rise and top military officials are concerned about it.

“The presence of army personnel and their families in riots, their arrest by the security, writing anti-government slogans on the walls of the barracks, and the amount of possible damage to the barracks and army housing units must be reported daily… through text, phone, or reports,” reads the letter.

Iran’s traditional Army, as distinct from the Revolutionary Guard, is widely criticized for not acting against the brutality of Basij militiamen, IRGC forces, and police who are ruthlessly killing innocent people during the uprising.

Analysts believe that, in the past years, the Islamic Republic has provided key positions of the army to the members of the Revolutionary Guard to eliminate the possibility of forming an opposition within the army.

At the same time, the conservative camp appears to be divided over the impact of the protests and the sustainability of changes that have already occurred in Iranian society because of more than two months of nationwide protests.

In a commentary in the reformist daily Etemad, leading reformist commentator Abbas Abdi wrote that although some simple-minded individuals still believe that the protests will come to an end soon, the situation warrants more careful analysis.

Abdi asserted that most of Iranians are not happy about existing conditions and support the protests as without their support the movement would not have started in the first place or would have already ended. He argued that the reason why the majority of Iranians do not actively take part in the protests is because they fear the consequences and do not see a promising prospect for the movement. He said the latter is a more important reason.

"The majority believes there is no guarantee that the movement will succeed so they hesitate in the interest of preserving the status quo although they do not like it. Some protesters, on the other hand, believe that whatever happens in the future cannot be worse than the current situation," Abdi argued. He added that unlike some hardliners who have said there will be hell after the Islamic Republic, this is not true because "the current government is unable to function normally and ensure economic growth, control inflation, boost employment and build houses for the people."

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Abdi added that "hardliners hope people will be tired of the situation and will give up. "He maintained that "Iran will never return to the situation before protests started. What has happened is irreversible, so we must go on." He argued that change is the only way forward, but it is with positive steps on the part of the government that a breakthrough could happen. Otherwise, the people might choose open-ended uncertainty."

In the meantime, while moderate conservative politician and commentator Mohammad Mohajeri has said that Iranian women might continue defying hijab no matter what comes up in the future, Hamshahri daily, the mouthpiece of Tehran Municipality and the hardliners who run it, assured likeminded ultra-conservatives that "pious people should rest assured the situation will not remain like this."

Mohajeri noted that "as the problems of [compulsory] hijab and the morality police have remained unresolved, the presence of a large number of women without headscarves has become routine in many cities and this is likely to become the new normal for society." However, he noted that this state of indecision could last longer as the government is used to leaving problems unresolved.

Mohajeri agreed that the problem goes beyond hijab as there is a general dissatisfaction in Iran about the way the country is being governed.

On the other hand, Hamshahri wrote that the way women dress now is not likely to continue in the future, arguing that the protests have not led to more women taking off their headscarves, a claim clearly refuted by photos and videos showing many women without hijab.

Hamshahri added that some women take off their scarf as an act of protest and when the protests are over, rationality will also prevail. But there is a big "if" about the end of protests. With three days of more rigorous strikes and protests until Friday, and further plans for next week, the prospect Hamshahri envisages seems to be wishful thinking.