By Reza Hamidi
The deputy commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Commodore Ali Fadavi, has accused the U.S. of fueling the recent wave of nationwide protests over a massive gasoline price hike that left more than 200 people dead and scores of others injured.
Commodore Fadavi, who is the former commander of the IRGC Navy (2010-2018), made the claims during a news conference on November 24.
“America has continuously plotted against the Islamic Republic for the past 40 years,” Mr. Fadavi was quoted by the Mehr News Agency as saying. “We have also uncovered irrefutable evidence proving their role in the recent events. We have successfully defeated all their sinister plots in the past 40 years.”
Comparing the recent unrest in Iran with the 2018 “Yellow Vests Movement” in France, Fadavi said: “While France has failed to control the labor strike action in that country for the past 11 months, it took us only 48 hours to round up all the protesters in our cities.”
The head of the operation for the IRGC’s Basij forces, commander Salar Abnoush, has claimed that the security forces were the real victims in the recent protests because they “had been attacked by the rioters and the enemies of the state.”
“They [security forces] were under much pressure. However, they successfully defeated the enemy,” commander Abnoush was quoted by the Iranian Students News Agency as saying on November 24. “Our enemies have been plotting against us for years. They have been waiting for an opportunity to incite violent social unrest in the country. They do not care about Iranian people but only their interests. This is not a slogan but the fact that every reasonable person knows.”
Hojatoleslam Mahmoud Mohammad Araghi, the representative of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to the holy city of Qom, capital of the northern province of Qom 140 kilometers south of Tehran, has also warned about the “enemies’ sinister plots” to undermine the Islamic Republic regime from inside.
“In the past, our enemies used wine and women to corrupt our youths and weaken Islam,” Hojatoleslam Araghi was quoted by the Tasnim News Agency as saying on October 23. “Qom is threatened by corrupt elements from within. We must fight these evil forces before it is too late.”
The holy cities of Qom and Mashhad, the capital of the northeastern province of Khorasan Razavi, have been in the epicenter of many protests and civil unrest in recent years.
[Translated from Persian by Fardine Hamidi]
