COURAGE VS. TYRANNY
Desperate mullahs warn of dealth penalty amid protests
Iran’s top mullah on Tuesday blamed the widespread protests that have left at least 21 people dead on “enemies of Iran” — and a top justice official said demonstrators were “waging war against God” and could face the death penalty.
“In the recent days’ incidents, enemies of Iran utilized various means — including money, weapons, politics and intelligence apparatuses — to create problems for the Islamic system,” Ayatollah Ali Khameni said, as state media reported nine more people were killed in overnight clashes between protesters and security forces.
The hard-line Khameni did not blame any specific countries or other actors in his first public comments six days after unrest over the country’s tanking economy turned violent.
But the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council pointed the finger squarely at the United States, Britain and Saudi Arabia — and specifically threatened the Saudis, Iran’s chief rival in the combustible region.
“Saudis will receive Iran’s unexpected response and they know how serious it can be,” Ali Shamkhani said.
And top justice official Musa Ghazanfarabadi warned that those leading the protests in cities across the country would be charged with “moharabeh” — an Islamic term that means “waging war against God” and that is punishable by death.
Hundreds have been arrested across the country since the protests began last Thursday over corruption, food prices and a stagnant economy before morphing into rallies against the Islamic theocracy’s unelected clerical elite, with many calling for the ayatollah himself to step down.
The head of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court on Tuesday warned protesters that violence would not be tolerated and that their ringleaders would be rounded up, tried and possibly executed.
President Trump once again jumped into the fray to show his solidarity with the protesters — saying they’re opposing a “bru-
tal and corrupt regime” — and took another shot at his predecessor for “foolishly” giving the country money that he claimed ended up funding terrorism.
“The people of Iran are finally acting against the brutal and corrupt Iranian regime,” he wrote on Twitter.
“All of the money that President Obama so foolishly gave them went into terrorism and into their ‘pockets.’ The people have little food, big inflation and no human rights. The U.S. is watching!”
A spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry said Trump should mind his own business and focus on domestic issues.
“It is better for him to try to address the internal issues, like the murder of scores killed on a daily basis in the United States during armed clashes and shootings, as well as millions of the homeless and hungry people in the country,” said Bahram Qasemi, according to state-run media.
Trump has been tweeting about the unrest since it escalated over the weekend, backing the Iranian people’s right to peacefully protest and reminding the country’s leaders that the world is monitoring any human-rights violations.
US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley called on the world body to hold emergency sessions to address the crackdown on the protests, the largest and most expansive rioting since Iran’s disputed presidential election in 2009.
“The UN must speak out,” Haley said Tuesday at a news conference. “In the days ahead, we will be calling for an emergency session both here in New York and at the Human Rights Council in Geneva. We must not be silent. The people of Iran are crying out for freedom.”
During his presidential campaign, Trump blasted the Obama accord with Iran as the “worst deal ever” and vowed to ditch it once he got into the White House.
As part of the pact to reduce Iran’s nuclear stockpile, the Obama administration returned $1.7 billion of the regime’s assets frozen in the US.
Iran has been known to support terror groups, including Hezbollah, in an effort to ex- pand its power in the Mideast.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani acknowledged the people’s anger over the country’s economic troubles, saying that while Iran had benefited from the nuclear deal, the gains haven’t trickled down yet to most working-class Iranians.
On Tuesday, six people were killed when they attacked a police station in Qahdarijan and tried to steal guns, state media reported.
An 11-year-old boy and a 20year-old man were killed in Khomeinishahr, while a member of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard was fatally shot in Najafabad.
So much for those claims that President Trump’s tough talk would rally regular Iranians behind the government: Protests have broken out in every major city of the nation — an uprising over not just a stolen election, as in 2009, but against the entire regime.
Economic unrest apparently spurred the first demonstrations in the blue-collar city of Mashad. Unemployment and consumer prices remain high, and Iranians are seeing no benefits from the billions in cash sent by the Obama administration.
But the protests have spread everywhere, and expanded to voice fury over foreign adventures. Iranians are sick of seeing their money funneled to the likes of Syria’s bloody Bashar al-Assad and Hezbollah.
Indeed, they’re done with the whole “Islamic Republic,” with chants of “Down with the dictator.”
In short, these Iranians are calling for the most basic improvement in their lives: regime change.
Trump, to his credit, has encouraged and supported their protests, as has the State Department. But cheering them on isn’t the only step Washington can take. Among the ideas being suggested:
Working with social media and other online platforms to find ways around Iran’s cyber-bans.
Linking all future dealings with Iran to the fate of the protesters — and pushing a reluctant Europe to do likewise.
Pressing Western companies looking to cash in on Iranian markets (newly opened under the nuclear deal) to back off.
All this is a far cry from 2009, when President Barack Obama, anxious to create dialogue with Tehran and negotiate his disastrous nuclear deal, barely raised a peep of support for the Green Revolution protests — and then did nothing as the government ruthlessly crushed the movement.
The regime won’t sit by idly. It’s already killed at least 21, and a further crackdown is likely.
But the US has another weapon, thanks to Trump: The chance to tear up the nuke deal and impose even tougher new sanctions.
Iran may well be at a major crossroads. And this time the United States isn’t looking to win the love of the bad guys.