۱۳۹۶ دی ۱۰, یکشنبه
.قیام ایران در صدر خبرهای جهان + گزارشهای تکمیلی + فیلم
.قیام ایران در صدر خبرهای جهان + گزارشهای تکمیلی + فیلم
گزارشها و تحولات قیام ایران درصدر خبرهای جهان قرار گرفته است.
سی ان ان دریکی از گزارشهای متعدد خود گفت: تظاهرات در سراسر کشور از زمانیکه پنجشنبه شروع شد گسترش یافته است و خبرنگار سی ان ان نیک رابرتسون سردبیر سیاسی روابط بین المللی در این رابطه گزارش می دهد:
آنچه که این تظاهرات ها را باتظاهرات های عظیم سال ۲۰۰۹ در ایران متمایز می کند این است که اینبار مردم خواهان سرنگونی علی خامنه ای هستند.
این چیزی است که رژیم بسیار به آن توجه خواهد داشت. بیان آشکار سرنگون کردن خامنه ای برای رژیم تحمل پذیر نیست.
آنچه ما دیده ایم این است که مردم پوسترهای خامنه ای را بزیر کشیده اند مردم شعار سرنگونی او را می دهند . همچنین ما فیلم هایی را دیده ایم از مجروحان تظاهرات را دیده ایم. فیلم هایی را می بینیم که مجروحان را از تظاهرات بیرون می برند. همچنین افرادی که دارای زخمهای گلوله هستند در درمانگاه ها تحت درمان قرار گرفته اند. مردی در بیمارستان به نظر می رسد زخم گلوله ای دارد که به شکم او اصابت کرده است.
قیام مردم ایران تاکنون بیش از ۲۰۰بار در رسانه های کشورهای عربی منتشر شده است.
تلویزیون اسکای نیور در یکی از گزارشهای خود می گوید: تظاهرات خشمگینانه هزاران ایرانی در دهها شهر ایرانی علیه رژیم حاکم ادامه می یابد. دوربینهای تلفن های همراه، صحنه شکسته شدن دیوار ترس از سرکوب امنیتی را در حالی به ثبت رساندند که شعار مرگ بر خامنه ای بر روی دیوار های تهران نوشته شد.
در این فیلم ها که سایت مجاهدین خلق ایران منتشر کرده است تظاهر کنندگان عکسهای سران رژیم را در یک پلاکارد معلق در یکی از پل های شهر مشهد، به آتش کشیدند.
در شهرهای ایران پلاکاردهای مرگ بر خامنه ای و خامنه ای حیا کن حکومت را رها کن شده است و تصویر خانمی دیده میشود که روی یکی از دیوارهای تهران شعار مرگ بر خامنه ای دزد را می نویسد.
در فیلمی از تظاهرات در دانشگاه تهران علیه علی لاریجانی رئیس مجلس رژیم ایران شعار داده می شود و تظاهرکنندگان شعار می دهند: سید علی حیا کن حکومتو رها کن
مریم رجوی پرزیدنت شورای ملی مقاومت ایران به شهروندان ایران و زنان شجاعی که صحنه های حماسی پایداری و اراده مردم ایران برای سرنگونی رژیم آخوندی را آفریدند، تبریک گفت.
آسوشیتدپرس روز یکشنبه گزارش داد: دو نفر از معترضان در یک تظاهرات شبانه در ایران کشته شدند. براساس فیلمی که روی شبکه های اجتماعی گذاشته شده این دو معترض براثر تیراندازی در درود کشته شدند. بنظر می رسد اعتراضات، تلویزیون دولتی را وادار کرد سکوتش را روز شنبه بشکند و به تظاهرات اذعان کند، از آنجا که مقامهای امنیتی خواسته بودند از اعتراضات گزارشی پخش نشود، این تلویزیون گزارشی از این تظاهرات پخش نمی کرده است…
هموطنان غیورمان در شهر درود و جوانان این شهر قهرمان پرور، تصویر بزرگی از شهید راه آزادی حمزه لشنی زند را که شنبه شب ۹دی در جریان قیام مردم درود به دست پاسداران خامنه ای همراه با یکی دیگر از تظاهر کنندگان به شهادت رسید، در یکی از خیابانهای این شهر برافراشتند.
به دنبال شهادت این جوان قیام آفرین و همرزم دیگر در درود، دبیرخانه شورای ملی مقاومت ایران درشامگاه ۹دی طی اطلاعیه اعلام کرد: بدون شک این خونهای به ناحق ریخته شده خشم مردم علیه رژیم ضد بشری آخوندی را دو چندان، آتش قیام را شعله ورتر و سرنگونی آن را تسریع خواهد کرد.
مقاومت ایران شورای امنیت ملل متحد، اتحادیه اروپا و آمریکا و تمامی مراجع مدافع حقوق بشر را به محکوم کردن این جنایت بزرگ و اقدامات موثر بین المللی برای مقابله با سرکوب قیام مردم ایران فرامی‌خواند.
موج همبستگی و حمایت کمیته های پارلمانی، سناتورها و نمایندگان مجالس و شخصیتهای سیاسی و مذهبی در کشورهای مختلف جهان از قیام مردم ایران ادامه دارد.
کمیته بریتانیایی برای یک ایران آزاد که از حمایت اکثریت مجلس عوام و بسیاری از اعضای مجلس اعیان برخوردار است اعلام کرد: دولت انگلستان باید از خواستهای تظاهرکنندگان در ایران حمایت کند . مردم ایران به دنبال استیفای حقوق برای آزادی بیان و آزادی اجتماعات هستند. ما سرکوب این اعتراضات مسالمت آمیز را محکوم می کنیم. ما دولت انگلستان و جامعه بین المللی را فرا می خوانیم که در کنار مردم ایران، بایستند.
تونه کلام نماینده پارلمان اروپا و عضو کمیسیون خارجی این پارلمان در پیام خود اعلام کرد: امروزثابت شده که هرگونه امید به توافق اتمی و میانه روشدن رژیم آخوندهاه خیال باطلی بیش نبوده است. اتحادیه اروپا باید براساس ارزشها و اعتبارش در کنار مردم ایران بایستد که برای ۳۸ سال از حاکمیت یکی از بی رحم ترین رژیم های در دنیا رنج برده اند،
مارتین پاتسلت، نماینده مجلس فدرال آلمان واوتو برنهارد، معاون وزیر سابق و عضو هیئت رئیسه بنیاد کنراد آدنائر در پیام مشترکی اعلام کردند: خواسته شهروندان ایرانی برای کسب آزادی شایسته حمایت تمام عیار جامعه جهانی است. ما از کشورهای عضو اتحادیه اروپا میخواهیم که برای آزادی فوری دستگیرشدگان تلاش کنند و به رژیم تهران هشدار بدهند که رفتار آنها در کانون توجهات و نظارت بین المللی قرار دارد.
بارونس هریس معاون سخنگوی مجلس اعیان انگلستان اعلام کرد: من قیام مردم ایران را مورد ستایش و تقدیر قرار می دهم و بهترین آرزوهایم را برای مردم ایران که خواهان دستیابی به دمکراسی و آزادی از یوغ ظلم و ستم هستند ابراز می کنم.
لرد مک اینس نماینده مجلس اعیان انگلستان، گفت: جامعه جهانی بایستی در کنار مردم ایران که به خیابانها ریخته اند قرار بگیرد و هر گونه اقدام سرکوبگرانه و استفاده از نیروی قهر را بر علیه تظاهر کنندگان محکوم کند.
هم چنین اسقف جان پریچارد اسقف در شهر دارهام انگلستان اعلام کرد: من مردم شجاع ایران را که دست به اقدامات اعتراضی، زده اند مورد ستایش قرار می دهم. آنها خواهان یک ایران آزاد و دمکراتیک هستند.
دبیرخانه شورای می مقاومت در اطلاعیه شماره ۱۷ خود درباره «غافلگیری، وحشت و سردرگمی رژیم آخوندی» نوشت: در چهارمین روز قیام سراسری مردم ایران برای سرنگونی نظام منحوس نظام ولایت فقیه، سرکردگان و کارگزاران رژیم آخوندی ناگزیر شدند به خشم و انزجار مردم از این رژیم و ابعاد این خیزش اذعان کنند.
وزیر کشور آخوندها امروز (یکشنبه ۱۰دی) گفت: «حوادث و اتفاقات چند روز اخیر موجب نگرانی شده و موجب آسیب رساندن به امنیت کشور می شود». اما همه می دانند مقصود وی از «کشور» چیزی جز باندهای تبهکار و آخوندهای فاسد و «آقازاده»های هرزه و زالوصفتی که ۳۹ سال است حرث و نسل ایران را نابود کرده اند، نیست.
در همین حال خبرگزاری حکومتی مهر ۱۰دی، نوشت: سازمان مجاهدین خلق ایران «در پس پرده اغتشاشات اخیر ایستاده و آن را مدیریت می کند»
اطلاعیه دبیرخانه شورای ملی مقاومت می افزاید: خامنه ای، ولی فقیه طلسم شکسته، در چهارمین روز این قیام همچنان به سکوت خود ادامه می دهد. روحانی، رئیس جمهور رژیم نیز سخنرانی امروز خود را لغو کرد. روزنامه ایران وابسته به روحانی صبح امروز اعلام کرد: «با توجه به اتفاقات اخیر و درگیریهای چند روز در شهر های مختلف کشور رئیس جمهور تا ساعاتی دیگر در مورد این حوادث به سخنرانی خواهد پرداخت». اما دو ساعت بعد یکی از سخنگویان روحانی اعلام کرد: «روحانی امروز هیچ برنامه یی برای سخنرانی یا حضور در تلویزیون ندارد.
در همین حال رژیم آخوندی در وحشت از گسترش خیزشها مدارس را در تهران و بسیاری از شهرها به بهانه «آلودگی هوا» در روزهای یکشنبه و دوشنبه تعطیل کرد.
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پیام مسعود رجوی به همه جوانان دلیر وزنان قهرمان ومردان بپا خاسته شماره 2
پیام مسعود رجوی به همه جوانان دلیر وزنان قهرمان ومردان بپا خاسته شماره 2
پیام شماره 2 رهبر کبیر انقلاب مسعور رجوی به قیام آفرینان
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.آزادی و حقوق بشر همراه مردم ایران در پیام نیکی هیلی
.آزادی و حقوق بشر همراه مردم ایران در پیام نیکی هیلی
نیکلی هیلی در پیامی ضمن دعا برای مردم معترض ایران، به حمایت از آنها پرداخت.
نیکی هیلی، سفیر آمریکا در سازمان ملل متحد، طی بیانیه‌ای که در توئیتر خود منتشر کرد نوشت: «در آغاز سال نو، امید و دعاهای ما نثار میلیون‌ها نفر از مردمی‌ست که از حکومت‌های سرکوبگر در کره شمالی، ونزوئلا، کوبا و به خصوص ایران رنج می‌کشند»
نیکی هیلی با اشاره به خیزش سراسری مردم ایران افزود: مرد م ایران «اکنون صدایشان را باز می‌یابند.» او درباره وضعیت نظام ولایت فقیه در برابر اعتراضات مردم افزود: اکنون «حکومت ایران از سوی مردمش در حال آزمایش شدن است. ما دعا می کنیم که آزادی و حقوق بشر در این روز همراه مردم باشد.» [توئیتر نیکی هیلی ۳۱ دسامبر ۲۰۱۷]
پیشتر وزارت خارجه آمریکا در دو مورد به حمایت از اعتراضات مردمی در ایران پرداخته بود. [تکرار حمایت وزارت خارجه آمریکا از خیزش مردم ایران] همچنین سخنگوی کاخ سفید و رئیس جمهور آمریکا نیز به حمایت از اعتراضات مردم ایران پرداخته بودند.
دونالد ترامپ در توئیتر خود نوشته بود: «گزارشهای بسیاری که از اعتراضات مسالمت‌آمیز شهروندان ایرانی منتشر شده است نشان‌دهنده‌ی به تنگ آمدن آنها از رژیم فاسدی‌ست که ثروت ملت ایران را در پشتیبانی از تروریسم در خارج از مرزهای کشور بر باد داد می‌دهد.»
ترامپ خطاب به نظام ولایت فقیه نوشته بود: «حکومت ایران باید به حقوق مردم ایران احترام بگذارد، از جمله آزادی بیان آنها.» او تاکید کرده بود که «جهان نظاره‌گر اعتراضات در ایران است.» [توئیتر دونالد ترامپ ۳۰ دسامبر ۲۰۱۷]
نیکی هیلی با اشاره به خیزش سراسری مردم ایران افزود: مرد م ایران «اکنون صدایشان را باز می‌یابند.» او درباره وضعیت نظام ولایت فقیه در برابر اعتراضات مردم افزود: اکنون «حکومت ایران از سوی مردمش در حال آزمایش شدن است. ما دعا می کنیم که آزادی و حقوق بشر در این روز همراه مردم باشد.» [توئیتر نیکی هیلی ۳۱ دسامبر ۲۰۱۷]
پیشتر وزارت خارجه آمریکا در دو مورد به حمایت از اعتراضات مردمی در ایران پرداخته بود. [تکرار حمایت وزارت خارجه آمریکا از خیزش مردم ایران] همچنین سخنگوی کاخ سفید و رئیس جمهور آمریکا نیز به حمایت از اعتراضات مردم ایران پرداخته بودند.
دونالد ترامپ در توئیتر خود نوشته بود: «گزارشهای بسیاری که از اعتراضات مسالمت‌آمیز شهروندان ایرانی منتشر شده است نشان‌دهنده‌ی به تنگ آمدن آنها از رژیم فاسدی‌ست که ثروت ملت ایران را در پشتیبانی از تروریسم در خارج از مرزهای کشور بر باد داد می‌دهد.»
ترامپ خطاب به نظام ولایت فقیه نوشته بود: «حکومت ایران باید به حقوق مردم ایران احترام بگذارد، از جمله آزادی بیان آنها.» او تاکید کرده بود که «جهان نظاره‌گر اعتراضات در ایران است.» [توئیتر دونالد ترامپ ۳۰ دسامبر ۲۰۱۷]
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IRAN cuts social media access as unrest turns deadly
Iran cuts social media access as unrest turns deadly
AFP, Dec. 31, 2017-- Iran cut access to social media on Sunday in a bid to head off further protests after days of unrest that saw two people killed and dozens arrested.
The interior minister warned protesters will 'pay the price' as footage on social media showed thousands marching across the country overnight in the biggest test for the Islamic republic since mass demonstrations in 2009.
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.Fox News: In Iran, 'Death to the Dictator!' Anti-Regime Street Protests Grow, Demanding Democracy and Freedom
Fox News: In Iran, 'Death to the Dictator!' Anti-Regime Street Protests Grow, Demanding Democracy and Freedom
Dec. 30, 2017 - Estimates say that up to one million Iranians have been protesting across the country since Thursday in what one Iranian opposition group says has turned into a protest for regime change.
Those protesters are being buoyed by messages from the Trump administration, says the National Council of Resistance of Iran ( NCRI ), a coalition of democratic Iranian groups and personalities...
According to reports, the protests have brought some bloodshed, with at least two people being shot and killed by Iranian Revolutionary Guards who opened fire on protesters in the city of Dorud.
In the country’s capital city of Tehran , video provided to Fox News by the NCRI showed protesters fending off tear gas from the police. Other videos show them burning posters of Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei...
Maryam Rajavi , the head of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, released a statement in which she saluted the bravery of the protesters. She said, in part, “The ongoing protests in different cities against the regime reveal the explosive state of Iranian society and the people’s desire for regime change.”
Rajavi’s statement said Iranian’s have loudly rejected the mullah’s regime: “The Iranian people demand the overthrow of the ruling religious dictatorship. It is their right to topple this repressive regime. And I emphasize: regime change in Iran is within reach.”
Those protesters are being buoyed by messages from the Trump administration, says the National Council of Resistance of Iran ( NCRI ), a coalition of democratic Iranian groups and personalities...
According to reports, the protests have brought some bloodshed, with at least two people being shot and killed by Iranian Revolutionary Guards who opened fire on protesters in the city of Dorud.
In the country’s capital city of Tehran , video provided to Fox News by the NCRI showed protesters fending off tear gas from the police. Other videos show them burning posters of Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei...
Maryam Rajavi , the head of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, released a statement in which she saluted the bravery of the protesters. She said, in part, “The ongoing protests in different cities against the regime reveal the explosive state of Iranian society and the people’s desire for regime change.”
Rajavi’s statement said Iranian’s have loudly rejected the mullah’s regime: “The Iranian people demand the overthrow of the ruling religious dictatorship. It is their right to topple this repressive regime. And I emphasize: regime change in Iran is within reach.”
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.Torn down by protests, Iran restricts access to social media apps
Torn down by protests, Iran restricts access to social media apps
The Baghdad post, Dec. 31, 2017-- Iran restricted access to several social media apps Sunday and warned that anti-government protesters who cause public disorder will 'pay the price' after three days of demonstrations across the country, CNN reported.
Instagram and Telegram have been temporarily 'restricted' in order to ensure calm and security, state-run media outlet IRIB reported Sunday.
Social media has been vital resource for Iranians participating in the protests -- described as the largest public display of discontent since the 2009 Green Movement in Iran.
While independent media coverage from inside the country has been limited, protesters have used apps like Telegram, which offers public channels for users in addition to encrypted messaging, to share information and videos of protests and clashes. Official media outlets have provided few details about the protests.
Telegram's CEO tweeted that Iranian authorities had blocked access to Telegram for 'the majority of Iranians' after the company refused to shut down peaceful protesting channels
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.RHETORIC ON TRUMP AND PALESTINE HIGHLIGHTS IRAN'S EFFORT TO EXPAND REGIONAL INFLUENCE
RHETORIC ON TRUMP AND PALESTINE HIGHLIGHTS IRAN'S EFFORT TO EXPAND REGIONAL INFLUENCE
By INU Staff
INU - On Wednesday, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei contributed additional remarks to the ongoing war of words between his government and that of the United States. As Reuters reported, Khamenei claimed the Islamic Republic had advanced its capabilities in “all areas” over the course of the nearly forty years since the Iranian Revolution. He also compared the current American presidential administration to that which took office shortly after the 1979 revolution. President Ronald Reagan, he said, was “stronger and wiser” than current President Donald Trump, who has dramatically escalated confrontations with the Iranian regime since taking office nearly one year ago.
Other Iranian officials have apparently been working to leverage the Trump administration’s aggressive tone as motivation for existing and potential Iranian allies to join in an axis opposed to Western interests in the region. Naturally, the Islamic theocracy has focused particularly on the Muslim world in pursuing this project, though it has also enjoyed growing alliances with both Russia and China.
Additionally, Kurdistan 24 reported on Wednesday that the Islamic Republic had reportedly secured an alliance with an Iraqi Christian militia in the Nineveh Plains. The article explains that this is a complicated development insofar as it is predicated on that militia’s relationship with one of several Shiite proxies of the Islamic Republic, even though those proxies in general are contributing to the persecution of Christian populations in the area.
Despite Iranian animosity toward this and other religious minorities, it is in the interest of the Islamic Republic and its established allies to retain cooperative relationships with the Nineveh militants because they serve as a link in the chain between Tehran and Damascus. This overland route, which also extends to Beirut and the headquarters of Lebanese Shiite paramilitary Hezbollah, is widely referred to as the “Shiite crescent” and is apparently central to Iran’s efforts to extend its influence across the region and to ultimately establish its own hegemony there.
Some reports indicate that that route has already become active, largely thanks to the numerous Shiite paramilitaries that comprise coalitions in both Syria and Iraq. But Iran’s broader aims will likely require buy-in from entities representing the competing Sunni branch of Islam as well. Relations have recently improved between Iran and some of these organizations, including the Afghan Taliban and Palestine’s Hamas. This latter ally represents a potentially important tool in Iran’s encouragement of Muslim unity that is simultaneously organized under its own banner and in opposition to American influence in the Middle East.
The Iranians sought to exploit the Palestinian issue on Wednesday around the same time that the Supreme Leader weighed in on more general aspects of the conflict between Iran and its main Western adversary. The Hill reports that the Iranian Parliament easily passed a measure declaring Jerusalem to be the “eternal” capital of a future Palestinian state, and it did so specifically in reaction to Trump’s move earlier in December to declare that the US would recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and would move its embassy to there from Tel Aviv.
Ali Larijani, the speaker of the Iranian parliament used the measure’s passage as an opportunity to expound upon the regime’s rhetoric regarding both the Israeli-Palestinian issue and the nature of the Trump administration. The White House’s announcement on Jerusalem, he claimed, constituted an attempt to strike a blow against all Muslims. However, such rhetoric cannot be expected to change the attitudes of American allies in the region who are particularly threatened by Iran’s expanding influence. Although Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were quick to join much of the world in opposing Trump’s measure, this does not seem to have seriously slowed the development of an anti-Iranian coalition that includes both of those nations, the US, and Israel itself.
The Trump administration’s assertive Iran policy clearly entails efforts to advance that development and to broaden the coalition, as evidenced by this month’s presentation in Washington D.C.
egarding the apparent Iranian origin of missiles fired at Saudi Arabia by Houthi rebels in Yemen. Some US allies such as France have intensified their tone on the issue of Iranian missiles, calling for multilateral restrictions on related activities. And although France and much of Europe have been earnestly pursuing new trade relations with Iran in the wake of the 2015 nuclear agreement, there are tentative signs that the White House public relations campaign may be curtailing this trend.
Azer News reported on Tuesday that Iranian non-oil exports had decreased respective to the same period last year in vritually all regions of the globe except for member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, after having previously escalated throughout much of the globe. Unsurprisingly, though, overall economic cooperation remains vigorous with allies like Russia. The Financial Tribune reported on Tuesday that Russia’s Eximbank had signed an agreement with Iranian partners for “unlimited financing” of domestic development projects.
Other nations apparently remain on the fence about their position in the widening split between allies of the Islamic Republic and those of the United States. Although the Islamic Republic News Agencyquoted Ali Larijani on Tuesday as boasting about ongoing increases in Turkish investment, Turkey’s Hurriyet Daily News issue a report the following day that described the Turkish government as denying that any mutual cooperation deals had been signed among it, Iran, and Qatar.
Turkish officials specifically made reference to a supposed “axis” centered on Iran, and they did so in order to deny that it exists or that Turkey is involved in it. The officials also highlighted the issue of Muslim unity but criticized the advancement of one regional country’s interests over another’s. In this way, Ankara tacitly rejected the notion of unity under an Iranian banner. But it still remains to be seen whether this attitude will be borne out over the long term, since relations between Iran and Turkey have traditionally been complicated but have grown closer in recent months while Turkish relations with the US have deteriorated.
Generally speaking, the strength of Iran’s position in the broader region remains uncertain, but the country’s leadership has a number of opportunities to become more entrenched with the help of various proxies and emergent allies. The longevity and durability of these relationships will no doubt depend in large part upon Western policies in the months and weeks ahead, and specifically on the breadth and overall success of the competing coalition’s reach.
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.MARYAM RAJAVI CALLED ON ALL THE PEOPLE TO JOINTHE "NO TO HIGH PRICES" UPRISING
MARYAM RAJAVI CALLED ON ALL THE PEOPLE TO JOINTHE "NO TO HIGH PRICES" UPRISING
By INU Staff
INU - Riot police break up anti-government protest in western Iran
December 29, 2017. Reuters reported that, Iranian riot police dispersed protesters shouting anti-government slogans in the western city of Kermanshah on Friday, a day after similar protests in the country’s northeast, the semi-official news agency Fars reported.
The outbreak of regional unrest reflects growing discontent over rising prices and alleged corruption, as well as concern over the Islamic Republic’s costly involvement in regional conflicts such as Syria and IraqAbout 300 demonstrators gathered after what Fars called a “call by the anti-revolution” and shouted “political prisoners should be freed” and “freedom or death”, while destroying some public property. Fars did not name any opposition groups
The protests in Kermanshah, the main city in a region where an earthquake killed over 600 people in November, came a day after hundreds rallied in Iran’s second largest city Mashhad to protest against high prices and shout anti-government slogan Videos posted on social media showed demonstrators yelling, “The people are begging, the clerics act like God”.
Police arrested 52 people in Thursday’s protests, Fars quoted a judicial official as saying in Mashhad, one of the holiest places in Shi‘ite Islam.
In social media footage, riot police used water cannon and tear gas to disperse crowds.
Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, saluted the heroic people of Kermanshah and other cities who rose up today with the slogans “death or freedom”, “death to Rouhani”, “death to the dictator”, and “political prisoners must be freed”, and protested against high prices, poverty and corruption. She said, “Yesterday Mashhad, today Kermanshah, and tomorrow throughout Iran; this uprising has tolled the death knell for the overthrow of the totally corrupt dictatorship of the mullahs, and is the rise of democracy, justice and popular sovereignty.
Mrs. Rajavi called on all the people, especially the youth and women throughout the country, to join the "No to High Prices" uprising, saying that “the corrupt dictatorship of the mullahs will undoubtedly fail against your national unity and solidarity, resistance and continuity of your rightful uprisings.”
She added that the four decade record of the mullahs’ rule has been nothing but inflation, poverty and corruption, torture and execution, killings and aggression. The bulk of the people's wealth, including the money released in the nuclear deal, is either spent on repression and export of terrorism and war, or is plundered by the regime's leaders. The overthrow of the religious fascism is the first step to get out of the crisis that is intensifying every day.
She said that the mullahs’ regime has no future; investment on it is doomed to failure, and it is time for the international community to not tie their fate to this regime and recognize the Iranian people Resistance to overthrow that regime.
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.IRANIAN OFFICIALS INCONSISTENT IN DESCRIBING PROTESTORS' MOTIVES AND GOALS
IRANIAN OFFICIALS INCONSISTENT IN DESCRIBING PROTESTORS' MOTIVES AND GOALS
On Friday, mass protests continued throughout Iran after having started the previous day in reaction to rising rates of inflation and other uncontrolled economic conditions that had contributed, for instance, to a doubling of the price of eggs in just one week’s time.
Deutsche Welle quotes one Iranian lawmaker as blaming these problems on “illegal financial institutions” that had been established under the administration of former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The closure of one such bank, called Mizan, reportedly had a particularly marked impact on Iran’s second most populous city, Mashhad, which has been the focal point of protests that spanned much of central and northern Iran as of Thursday.
The lawmaker’s account of the protests seemingly absolves the current government of responsibility for the conditions that are being protested by victims of a widening income gap in the Islamic Republic. But the DW article also points out that a major target of those protests has been current President Hassan Rouhani’s slow progress in following through on a promise to reimburse citizens whose investments were wiped out by the collapse of state-linked financial institutions.
At the same time, DW and various other outlets have highlighted a trend toward broader focus in those protests, targeting not just rising prices and not just financial indicators as a whole but also the Rouhani administration’s failure to uphold a wide variety of promises regarding domestic reform. Insofar as the abandonment of these promises represents closure of the political gap between Rouhani’s political allies and those of hardline authorities like Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, the protests seemingly double as an expression of opposition to the clerical system as a whole.
Indeed, the BBC refers to the demonstrations as “anti-government” protests in its reporting on Friday, as well as identifying them as the most serious and widespread such gatherings since the 2009 Green Movement, which emerged out of protests against Ahmadinejad’s disputed reelection. Those protests lasted for eight months and ended with a severe crackdown by government authorities, but many Iran watchers have observed that the resentments voiced by that movement continued to simmer under the surface in anticipation of another mass demonstration.
This is not to say that there have been no major protests in the ensuing year. Indeed, the National Council of Resistance of Iran has identified thousands in the past year alone. But these have tended to be more geographically confined than the current demonstrations, and many have been focused not on politics but on specific demands such as the payment of overdue wages.
The content of Thursday’s and Friday’s protests was evidently broad enough in scope that even some Iranian officials were compelled to acknowledge the “anti-government” nature of chants and slogans, even while downplaying the scope of their appeal. The Associated Press reports that the governor of Tehran, Mohsen Hamedani, had acknowledged the spread of the protests to the Iranian capital, yet insisted that the gathering involved fewer than 50 people, most of whom dispersed after being warned by police.
Hamedani added that those who remained were “temporarily” arrested, and these remarks seemed also to downplay the severity of the government’s response to what might be regarded as a serious threat to its legitimacy. However, social media posts from various cities depicted peaceful protests being met with tear gas and water cannons, and the crowds in each of those gatherings numbered in the hundreds or in the thousands. By the end of Thursday, there had been at least 52 arrests in Mashhad alone, according to the BBC.
Political imprisonment is rampant in the Islamic Republic, and the BBC report also indicates that this was one of the topics that had been advanced by some protestors. But political focus of any given participant in the demonstrations might be different from those of any other, as evidenced by media reports identifying chants as targeting economic issues, political imprisonment, Iran’s paramilitary interventions in the surrounding region, and so on.
This latter topic is closely related to the economic issues that reportedly sparked the protests, since the Iranian government has spent billions of dollars in recent years on propping up the Syrian dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad, as well as on promoting the growth of the Houthi rebellion in Yemen and the various Shiite militias operating in Iraq. A recent editorial in Forbes points out that the new Iranian national budget, introduced by Rouhani in early December, includes the provision of 76 billion dollars to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and its foreign special operations Quds Force, at a time when tens of thousands of victims of a November earthquake are still awaiting basic shelter and government services.
But the protest against foreign intervention has taken on a life of its own, with activists chanting such slogans as “forget about Syria; focus on us” and “no Gaza, no Lebanon; I will give my life only for Iran.” Despite the prevalence of these sorts of messages in social media and public accounts of the demonstrations, Iranian officials continue to maintain that the regional military prestige of the Islamic Republic remains broadly popular. For instance, the Huffington Post quotes hardline cleric Ahmad Alamolhoda as claiming that only about 50 protestors had expressed regional concerns within a gathering of several hundred.
Interestingly, the same report also quotes Alamolhoda as advocating for an intensified crackdown on the protestors. In absence of this, he suggested, enemies of the regime would claim that the government had lost its “revolutionary base”. The Huffington Post indicates that Tehran security personnel have promised that any demonstrations in the capital would be “firmly dealt with”. This seems to be at odds with the Tehran governor’s commentary about temporary arrests and also with the initial reaction from Mashhad Governor Mohammad Rahim Norouzian, whom the AP quoted as saying that security forces had shown “great tolerance”.
Since that initial reaction, Iranian officials seem to have increasingly justified crackdowns through acceptance of the broader characterizations of the protests’ grievances and goals. Norouzian himself came to describe the protests as having been organized by “counter-revolutionaries”, according to DW. According to other sources, officials have also referred to the organizers as “hypocrites,” a term often applies to members of the leading Iranian opposition group the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran.
The PMOI has also been a driving force in a number of activist campaigns within the Islamic Republic, including the push for international attention and independent inquiry into the 1988 mass execution of political prisoners, which primarily targeted that same resistance organization. In a Huffington Post editorial on Friday, former US Ambassador Ken Blackwell sought to connect that massacre, which killed an estimated 30,000 people, to the current protests. He said that Thursday’s and Friday’s chants of “death to the dictator” emerged out of “a political climate punctuated by growing demands for justice for the regime’s massacre.”
But even if the initial economic focus of the latest protests had been voiced in isolation, there is an argument to be made that this also would constitute an expression of opposition to the continued rule of the clerical regime. In fact, this argument was made by historian Ellen Ward on Friday in an editorial published by Forbes. Ward observes that despite some officials’ efforts to blame the previous presidential administration for ongoing problems, it is really the underlying clerical system that is responsible for the economic future of the Iranian people.
This is to say that it is the clerical authorities, and not the elected branches of government, who establish and enforce policies with tremendous economic impact, including the interventionist foreign policy. Ward’s argument is reminiscent of the statement put out on Thursday by the PMOI’s parent coalition the National Council of Resistance of Iran. That statement quoted NCRI President Maryam Rajavi as saying that the economic prospects of the Iranian people cannot be expected to improve until the resistance movement has brought about the emergence of democratic governance in place of the theocratic dictatorship.
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