Faced With Impasse, Raisi Officials Resort To Outlandish Claims

With speculation rampant on social media, Nour News, a website close to the Supreme National Security Council, denied any ploy by the government to soften up public opinion for a gasoline price increase. But almost immediately social media was full of rumors that the government was testing to see public reaction to a possible price increase. Drivers rushed to gas stations to fill their tanks, even if they did not any fuel.

Videos posted on social media Tuesday showed long queues in front of petrol stations. Distribution of cheaper, rationed petrol, which depends on the use of smart cards, had been stopped, with motorists obliged to buy unrationed gasoline at twice the price. By afternoon, authorities said they were working to resume rationed sales at designated stations.

Simultaneously, some electronic road signs were hacked to show messages like "Khamenei, Where is our gasoline?", a question addressed to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in Esfahan.

Another sign announced "free gasoline at Jamaran service station," referring to where the leader of the 1979 Islamic Revolution Ruhollah Khomeini lived before his death in 1989. During the 1979 revolution Khomeini was promising Iranians free electricity, water and a cash share of the oil export income.

The developments echoed July’s disruption to Iran’s railways, when information boards in train stations announced “Long delays due to cyberattack” and advertised the telephone number of Khamenei’s office. Similar attacks hit Mashhad and Tabriz airports in 2018.

But the disruption also comes as Iran enters the month of Aban, the anniversary of the mass protests of November 2019, when hundreds were killed, thousands arrested and the Internet largely shut down for a week.

No group claimed responsibility for the disruption to gas stations. Mehdi Mahdavi-Azad, a political commentator, told Iran International it was too early to say if this was an Israeli attack, but noted that both last November’s killing of nuclear scientist Mohsen Fahkrizadeh and April’s attack on the Natanz nuclear site, both widely attributed to Israel, had “serious repercussions” for Iran’s security services.

“Now even Mohsen Rezaei (former Revolutionary Guard commander) says there is a massive ‘bug’ and enemy infiltration in Iran’s security forces,” Mahdavi-Azad said.

Fars news agency, affiliated to the IRGC, attributed Tuesday’s gas-station disruption to "anti-revolutionaries" and opposition media.

The Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA), the first Iranian media outlet to report the attack Tuesday morning, published a picture showing the telephone number of Khamenei's office on a service station monitor. But the agency removed the report from all its portals and social media after a few minutes, claimed that it had itself been hacked.

Kamal Kharrazi, head of Iran’s Strategic Council on Foreign Relations said on Tuesday that “If Taliban, during their rule provide for the formation of an inclusive government of different minorities, protect the country’s independence and not allow foreign powers to have a presence and influence in the country, they will be embraced by the Islamic resistance front.”

The Islamic resistance front is a reference to an anti-American regional group of forces maintained by the Islamic Republic, including Iraqi Shiite militias, the Lebanese Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthis.

Kharrazi in fact appears to be asking the Taliban to join Iran's alliance system in the Middle East, while the new rulers of Afghanistan are closely aligned with Pakistan where they were sheltered for two decades.

Khamenei’s advisor, however, added that “It is too soon to speak about the Taliban movement.” He went on the say that Iran cannot forget the killing of its diplomats in Mazar-e-Sharif in 1998, while both Taliban and Pakistan had assured Tehran about their safety.

Kharrazai’s statement came one day before a meeting of Afghanistan’s neighbors is due to take place in Tehran.

Javaid Rehman, who has not been allowed to visit the country, pointed to live ammunition used during water protests in the south-western province of Khuzestan in July, when he said at least nine people including a minor were killed and others injured.

Many international human rights organizations, experts, the media and some governments have accused Iran of killing hundreds of protesters since late 2017, using military ammunition.

Zahra Ershadi, Iran’s deputy ambassador to the UN, said that such reports "only aim to use human rights as an instrument against other countries" and that Rehman had used information provided by "terrorist groups" and "sworn enemies of the Islamic Republic."

Ershradi said the appointment of a special rapporteur for Iran – since the 1980s one of few countries to be so investigated – had been an initiative of the West, especially Canada. Reflecting Iran’s common approach of alleging double standards, Eshradi cited recent discoveries in Canada of mass graves of indigenous childrenforced to attend residential schools.

Kazem Gharibabadi, Secretary-General of Iran’s Human Rights Office, said Rehman’s report was “ill-intentioned” and "a completely political and diversionary measure."

The Special Rapporteur’s report said Iran’s use of torture, reliance by courts on confessions, and “other fair trial violations” had led him to conclude that the use of the death penalty amounted to “arbitrary deprivation of life." Rehman cited Kurdish prisoner Amir-Hossein Hatami, who died after allegedly being beaten by prison officials, and the death of Shahin Naseri in custody in September. Naseri was a witness in the case of former cell-mate Navid Afkari, executed last year after alleging he had confessed under duress to murdering a security guard during protests.

“Arbitrary” grounds for a death sentence could turn the punishment into "a political tool,” Rahman argued. While a large number of executions in Iran are carried out for drug offences, Rehman criticized three vague security charges that can carry the death penalty: moharebeh (“waging war against God”), efsad-e fel-arz (“corruption on earth”) and baghy (“armed rebellion”).

The UN Special Rapporteur said he was disturbed by the sentencing of juveniles (under 18s) to death and said it was “imperative” for Iran to undertake criminal law and justice reforms beginning “most urgently” with a moratorium on the death penalty for juvenile offenders.

Rehman was appointed in 2018 as the third Special Rapporteur for Iran since the re-establishment of the mandate in 2011 after a nine-year interval. His mandate was extended by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHCR) on March 24.

The first Special Rapporteur on Iran, Venezuelan Andrés Aguilar, lasted two years after he was appointed in 1984, resigning over Tehran’s refusal to cooperate. Reynaldo Galindo Pohl El Salvador, who took over, visited Iran three times between 1990 and 1992 but resigned in 1995 when barred from returning. He was succeeded by Maurice Copithorne, a Canadian lawyer, who was Special Rapporteur until 2002.

Saeed Khatibzadeh on Tuesday told reporters that foreign ministers of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Pakistan will attend the Wednesday conference of Afghanistan’s neighbors, while China and Russia will take part via video link. The Taliban have not been invited to the meeting.

The spokesman added that Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi is scheduled to address the conference and a letter from the United Nations Secretary Antonio Guterres will be read.

Regarding the absence of the Taliban, Khatibzadeh said that there were many requests from Afghanistan and elsewhere for participation and this will be decided in the next meeting, which will probably take place in Beijing.

Regarding the agenda of the meeting Khatibzadeh told reporters that a unified message should be sent to “inside Afghanistan” that the country cannot be a “place for violence and terror”.

After two major bomb attacks against Afghanistan’s Shiites, Iran has asked the Taliban to protect civilians and strive for including others in the government.

“A peaceful and stable Afghanistan is a partner in regional cooperation. The people of Afghanistan will accept a government that reflects their will,” he said.

On Saturday [Oct. 23], while Brigadier General Abedin Khorram, dressed in civilian clothes, was beginning his inauguration speech in Tabriz, IRGC colonel Alizadeh (no first name has been published), also in civilian clothes, approached him on the podium and calmly slapped him hard in the face. A half-dozen people rushed to the stage, and he was ushered out of the hall by security guards.

In an odd occurrence, the state television's news channel IRINN, not only carried the footage of the attack but also posted it on its Telegram channel so that more people could watch or share it on social media.

IRGC-linked Tasnim news agency immediately carried a story to justify what had happened by allegedly fabricating a story that said Alizadeh attacked the governor after he found out that his wife was vaccinated by a member of the opposite sex. The Iranian social media did not believe this story.

On Monday, reformist daily Arman condemned the incident as "how bad the appointment of security and military commanders as civilian officials can turn out to be." During the past weeks, many have criticized Interior Minister (IRGC general) Ahmad Vahidi for appointing all of the provincial governors from among IRGC commanders.

A senior reporter Masoud Noori who has worked with many news outlets including the official news agency IRNA, wrote in an October 23 tweet, "So far, at least 22 senior officials including cabinet ministers and governors have been chosen from among current or former IRGC commanders. Government posts have been given to military officials in all previous governments too. But what is taking place in the current administration is unprecedented. It is no longer clear who runs this administration, President Ebrahim Raisi or the IRGC?"

Minister Vahidi reacted on Twitter in a way to save face for the governor and the IRGC. He wrote: "An official in the sacred regime of Islamic Republic does not fear insults or a slap in the face as he is serving the people to satisfy God almighty." Hundreds of users dismissed his comment.

Meanwhile, praising the governor, Ahmad Alirezabeigi, an MP for Tabriz told reporters that Khorram was such a good officer that when ISIS took him hostage in Syria, former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad paid a hefty ransom of $57 million to secure his freedom. In fact, some say it was the Emir of Qatar who paid the ransom to free 57 hostages, including Khorram, for one million dollars per person.

Cleric Mohammad Ali Abtahi, the chief of staff of former reformist president Mohammad Khatami, wrote: "They say they appoint military figures as governor to control tension in the provinces. But they failed to control the tension at the governor’s inauguration ceremony."

Ehsan Mazandarani, a journalist, wrote: "What is more important than a slap in the face of a governor…, is the fact that it made many people happy. What do citizens think of a manager that a slap in their face makes so many happy?"

Another journalist, Elham Naddaf, wrote: "He slapped the governor general in the face and everyone said, 'Well Done!' before even knowing why he attacked the official."

Arman wrote that the country's elite had warned Raisi to avoid appointing military personnel to civilian posts and he promised that his appointments will be free from political and other influences, but his Interior Minister appoints the governor with security paramount in his mind.

Iran analysts abroad, including Morad Vaisi have told Iran International TV that the government appoints IRGC commanders as governor because officials fear the repetition of massive protests as a result of economic hardships, similar to unrest in 2018 and 2019.

In Aftab Yazd daily, an MP for Maragheh, Ali Alizadeh said the two protagonists in the slapping story had some personal grudge against each other. Others said that Khorram had prevented the attacker's promotion within the ranks of the IRGC. Meanwhile, sociologists speaking to Aftab Yazd, said the people's reaction was more important than the incident, and “it shows their anger and distrust toward state officials.”