Khamenei Silent On Reform Leader's Plea To Stop Violence

The workers of Esfahan Steel Company, Alvand SarmaAfarin Incorporation, Morattab Car Manufacturing, Safe Khodro Car Manufacturing Company, Qazvin’s Pars Appliances Company, and some others staged strikes during the day.

Esfahan Steel Company is a parent corporation with four thousand employees and a producer of construction steel and rails.

SarmaAfarin is a company in the air conditioning industry that was established half a century ago.

The Union of Truck-Owners and Truck Drivers has also published a general call for a 10-day strike starting November 26.

Reports by the Free Workers' Union say welding workers also went on strike at Bafaq Steel Complex in Kerman province in central Iran in protest to non-observance of safety measures that led to an explosion and the death of two of their colleagues.

In recent weeks workers at dozens of industrial units, including automobile manufacturing, household appliances, heavy industries, petrochemicals, oil, gas, sugarcane, etc., went on strike.

Shopkeepers and business owner in dozens of Iranian cities also closed their shops and went on strike many times for consecutive days in support of the uprising against the clerical regime.

In a letter issued on Friday, a group of about 140 ophthalmologists said that a large number of protesters have been taken to medical centers hit by rubber bullets and metal pellets as well as paintball bullets in their eyes, leading to the loss of eyesight in one or both eyes. 

Last week, another group of 230 ophthalmologists issued a similar letter warning about the loss of eyesight among protesters. 

The Islamic Republic, which had been previously condemned for blinding protesters in the streets and has intensified the use of guns, including military weapons against unarmed protesters. 

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In an article on November 19, The New York Times cited ophthalmologists of three hospitals in the capital Tehran – namely Farabi, Rasoul Akram and Labbafinezhad -- and several doctors in Kordestan province, as saying that about 580 protesters suffered serious eye injuries during the regime’s crackdown. 

The full scope of mass eye injuries has been largely concealed due to the internet blackout, but medical evidence given to The Times by doctors, protesters, family members of patients and rights groups revealed that ophthalmology wards in hospitals have been overwhelmed with eye injury victims. The range of injuries included mutilated retinas, severed optic nerves and punctured irises.

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The regime’s security forces have been extensively using cartridges of shotshell loaded with numerous small balls or birdshots, or medium-sized buckshots as well as single large solid projectiles known as a slug to quash the protests across the country. 

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In an investigative report published on Friday, FRANCE 24 found evidence that shotgun cartridges manufactured by French-Italian manufacturer Cheddite have been widely used against Iranian protesters, an apparent violation of EU sanctions that went into place in 2012. 

The team analyzed more than 100 photos and videos showing teargas canisters, rifle bullets, paintball projectiles and cartridges from shotguns. While most of the shotgun shells photographed were made in Iran, 13 shells recovered from eight different Iranian cities bore Cheddite logos from factories in Italy and France. The company claims to be the world’s largest maker of empty shotgun cartridges and firing caps, producing more than a billion empty cartridges every year.

Nicholas Marsh, a senior researcher at the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), told FRANCE 24 about Iran that "The regulation currently in force states that it is not allowed to sell shotguns of any type, ammunition designed for them and associated components. The restriction on firearms was added in an amendment on 24 March 2012. Since then, shotguns and their ammunition have been covered by the EU sanctions, and the sanctions are still in effect." The agency also quoted Amnesty International's researcher on arms control and human rights, Patrick Wilcken, as saying that “Cheddite has a responsibility to respect human rights; it should carry out human rights due diligence on its entire value chain and should cease supplies if there is a risk of goods being diverted into hands of serial human rights violators…” 

In response to Iran International, a spokesperson for Canada’s Global Affairs Department categorically condemned Iran’s arrest of protestors and the continuing violent crackdown on people, which has caused additional deaths and injuries in blatant violation of their human rights.

“We urge Iran to meaningfully address the grievances of all of its citizens without discrimination and to protect and respect their right to peaceful protest,” said the spokesperson.

“We salute the courage of all Iranians, especially women and girls, who are exercising their right to freedom of expression and freedom of peaceful assembly and association. We join them in sending the regime a very clear message: they must end all forms of persecution and violence against women.”

On the other hand, Canada's ministers of foreign affairs, international development and the minister responsible for the Pacific Economic Development Agency of Canada, wrote in a joint statement that Ottawa will continue to stand firmly with the Iranian people and for the human right of women, girls and gender-diverse people.

“Right now, women in Iran are leading a powerful and necessary call to end violence against women and girls. The killing of Mahsa Amini while in the custody of the so-called morality police has sparked a courageous, global movement to stand up for a more fair and inclusive future for women and girls in Iran,” reads the statement.

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) announced in its latest report that from September 16 until Friday, November 25, at least 448 protestors have been killed, of which 63 were minors.

While the Islamic Republic has not provided accurate figures of those detained in the protests, the watchdog went on to say that at least 18,170 protesters have been arrested including 565 students.

HRANA added that156 cities and more than 140 universities across Iran have also been the scenes of anti-government protests.

The group added that 3,234 of the arrested protesters have been identified, saying that 110 are minors.

Meanwhile, “Kurdistan Human Rights Network”, which is a France-based independent organization said at least 104 Kurdish citizens were killed in nationwide protests until Friday, November 25.

The United Nations Human Rights Council on Thursday adopted a resolution based on which an international panel will be formed to investigate the violence against protesters in Iran.

The members of the fact-finding panel will be appointed by the President of the United Nations Human Rights Council, and its mission is to investigate human rights violations since the beginning of Iran's nationwide protests and document the role of its perpetrators.

Khamenei praised the Basij for their role in suppressing the protests, that he called “riots”, as a paramilitary force under the command of the Revolutionary Guard.

The Basij have been at the forefront of confronting protesters in the streets and using violence against unarmed civilians, including children and women. They have also used various types of guns that have killed and maimed hundreds of people.

"They have sacrificed their lives to protect people from rioters," Khamenei said in his televised speech, while an Iranian human rights monitor, HRANA said Saturday that so far 448 protesters have been killed, including 63 children and an estimated 18, 170 people arrested.

But an interesting part of Khamenei’s speech was his reference to the role the Islamic Republic plays in the region. He openly admitted that Tehran was successful in building a strong presence in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, but he claimed, “we absolutely did not enter North Africa.”

The 83-year-old clerical ruler repeated a favorite propaganda line, proclaiming that the Islamic Revolution “transformed the hearts of neighboring nations.”

The Shiite regime in Iran loves to be seen as leading Muslims everywhere, but in fact most Sunnis, who are the majority in the Muslim world, see Shiites at best as a particular Muslim sect, while some even regard them as heretics. Except Shiites in the region, few Sunnis follow the Islamic Republic’s lead, and even most Shiites who assist Tehran’s policies receive large amounts of monetary support for their loyalty.

Khamenei also claimed that the United States decided in 2006 “to paralyze six countries that constitute the strategic depth” of the Islamic Republic in order to contain its power. He named Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Sudan and Somalia, although Libya is in North Africa, contradicting his earlier remark of never having entered the region.

Iran’s ruler also criticized those who say that the government must reach an agreement with the United States to be able to solve its problems. He maintained that “Negotiations will not help our problem with America. Only one thing will solve our problem with America: Paying ransom on permanent basis.”

Khamenei regularly espouses an anti-US and anti-West ideology and regards a normal foreign policy and cordial relations with the West as capitulation. In fact, in his speech he called flexibility in dealing with the United States his “red line”.

“America wants the Iranian nation to cross all red lines,” he said.

Khamenei also indirectly alluded to the defiance of the new generation that has been the force behind current protests and told the Basij that there is no such thing as a generational gap and their religious philosophy remains vibrant as generations change.

In an obvious move to give confidence to his loyal forces he told them “Recognize your power, get to know your enemies and discover the weak points of the enemy, who is trying to show he is strong.”

The Basij forces are faced with thousands of Generation Z young people who want social and political freedoms and do not believe in the religious and clerical order. These forces have to face protesters almost on daily basis and several have been killed or humiliated in the streets.