By Kayhan Life Staff
Some of those arrested in the nationwide protests in 2022 were nostalgic during their interrogation for the reign of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, and hoped for the return to Iran of his son, Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, according to the political deputy of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Brigadier General Yadollah Javanii.
General Javanii made the comments at a session of the administrative council of the northwestern province of East Azerbaijan on Nov. 6.
“The enemy wages a targeted war to win people’s hearts and minds,” the Tehran-based Didban Iran news online quoted General Javani as saying.
“The [IRGC’s Mohammad] Rasulullah Division arrested several agitators last September. When asked why they had committed such acts, one of them replied that they did not want the Islamic Republic. They even created the ‘no to the Islamic Republic’ hashtag” on social media, he added.
“When asked who they wanted to see replace the Islamic Republic, the same person thought for a while, then said it would be good if Reza Pahlavi were to return [to Iran,]” Javani explained.
“They were asked why things would get better if he [Reza Pahlavi] were to return. The person answered that people said things were better under the Shah, and nothing was as expensive [as it is today,]” Javani noted.
“It is a shame that some of our young people do not appreciate the [1979 Islamic] Revolution, which is the envy of the entire world, and its [Supreme] Leader [Ayatollah Ali Khamenei],” Javani argued. “The blame rests with social media, which replaces devotion with disloyalty.”
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Javani said the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war, which is referred to as “the Sacred Defense,” was “a jihad to ensure that Iran would not lose one inch of its territory. We are proud of that. However, the enemy tried to undermine the revolution.”
“The enemy used terms like ‘conquering the streets,’ or ‘a new revolution’ and a thousand other such terms. U.S. President [Joe Biden] openly declared, ‘We will free Iran.’ Opposition groups made similar remarks,” Javani added.
“The enemy had blatantly planned the overthrow of the Islamic Republic on social media, but it encountered the true power of the Islamic Republic,” Javani asserted.
In a veiled reference to the deaths of Mahsa (Zhina) Amini and Armita Geravand, both of whom died while in the custody of the Morality Police, Javani said: “Enemies cite the death of a woman caused by illness as an example of state injustice. They want to frame it as a murder, but their true face has been exposed.”
Mahsa (Zhina) Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian woman accused of wearing an “improper hijab,” lost her life on Sept. 16, 2022, while in the custody of the Morality Police in Tehran. Her death sparked a nationwide protest that evolved into a national uprising and gained international support with the “Woman, Life, Freedom” slogan.
Armita Geravand, a 17-year-old girl, reportedly suffered brain damage at the hands of the Morality Police while on Tehran Metro on Oct. 1. She fell into a coma as a result of her injuries and died on Oct. 22 in an army hospital.
A tweet by Kayhan London on Nov. 21, 2021, included a clip reportedly showing crowds in Isfahan, the capital of the central province of Isfahan, chanting “Iranian King, return to Iran. Those wearing turbans have s**t on Iran.”
General Javani also spoke about the war in Gaza, praising Hamas for its brutal massacre of Israeli civilians and for taking women, children, and older persons hostage.
“The Al-Aqsa Storm [Hamas’s codenamed for its Oct. 7 attack on Israel] overpowered the defensive measures by the Zionist regime, including the sand-hill barriers, razor wires with fence-mounted perimeter intrusion detection sensors, smart cement walls, the tunnel detection monitors and recognizance planes,” Javani said. “It caught one of their [Israeli] military commanders by surprise and took 200 hostages.”
Some state media, including the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), published an edited version of General Javani’s speech, excluding his comments about the jailed protesters’ longing for a return of the Pahlavi dynasty.
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