Iran Threatens To Retaliate Against Any Additional EU Sanctions

Joe Biden, visiting a college in Irvine, California said he is “stunned” by the popular protests and that the US stands with Iran’s “brave women”.

As a group of protesters were standing with “Free Iran” signs, the President said, “I want you to know that we stand with the citizens, the brave women of Iran.” He continued, “It stunned me what it awakened in Iran. It awakened something that I don’t think will be quieted for a long, long time.”

Vice President Kamala Harris, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Washington DC also met separately with Iranian civil society activists based abroad, earlier in the day.

Three Iranian women led by Nazanin Boniadi, an Iranian-born British actress and activist, met with Blinken and other State Department officials to discuss how the United States can support Iranians who have been protesting for more than four weeks.

After the meeting, Blinken tweeted, “Today, I met with civil society partners to discuss what more the U.S. can do to support the people of Iran, particularly its brave women and girls.”

Boniadi in reply tweeted, “I am encouraged by your openness to hearing the democratic aspirations of the people of Iran and we look forward to engaging on next steps to support Iranian civil society to that end.”

The Biden Administration had focused on reviving the Obama-era nuclear deal known as the JCPOA since assuming office, but almost 18 months of indirect talks with Tehran failed to produce an agreement when the protests began in mid-September after Mahsa Amini, a young woman was killed in ‘morality’ police custody.

Iranians living abroad, particularly in the United States were outraged and began to campaign for world attention to Amini’s case, which symbolized the degree of human rights abuses perpetrated by the Islamic Republic’s clerical-military regime. Mahsa Amini’s hashtag on Twitter quickly took off as no other issue before, reaching hundreds of millions of responses.

The administration’s first response was relatively quick, sanctioning Iran’s ‘morality police’ and listing seven senior officials one week after Amini’s death and a few days after large protests broke out. It also moved to ease restrictions on Internet-related technology for Iranians as the government often shut off access to control flow of information about the protests.

But a question lingered in the minds of many Iranians about the administration’s policy to return to the nuclear deal that former President Donald Trump had abandoned in 2018 and imposed heavy economic sanctions on Tehran. Although talks are in deadlock, a potential new deal would release tens of billions of dollars to the authoritarian government that it can use to suppress its people, particularly women.

The administration came up with a new position this week, saying it is not “focused” on reviving the JCPOA, and its attention is on the protests. Friday’s meetings with Iranian activists followed that apparent shift in its Iran policy.

But many Iranians have been demanding a clear break with the nuclear talks that would forestall any lifting of sanctions and release of billions of dollars in frozen Iranian funds in foreign banks.

This viral video that has infuriated Iranian social media users shows agents of the Islamic Republic’s security forces touching and grabbing the private parts of a female protester during the crackdown on people in capital Tehran. 

Following the global reactions, the chief of the cyberspace headquarters of Basij paramilitary forces, Moslem Mo'in, said the video has been released by dissidents with the aim of inciting people's sentiments.

Although the sexual harassment is obvious in the video, he called the assault “nonsense” aimed at paralyzing by the police forces and creating a defense shield for women protesters. 

The woman, whose identity remains unknown, was then released as other agents were laughing at her.

Fars news agency, affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard, quoted a police source as saying that “some of such encounters are inevitable during riots.”

Many other women who participated in the demonstrations have recounted similar encounters by security forces, especially Basij forces who have volunteered for the crackdown and are being paid daily to attack protesters. 

With Iranians from all walks of life venting anger at their clerical rulers during daily rallies, the uprising marks one of the boldest challenges to the Islamic Republic since the 1979 revolution.

Zahedan is the capital of Sistan and Baluchistan province in the southeast near Pakistan, with a majority ethnic Baluch citizens who are Sunni with grievances against the Shiite clerical regime. When they came out to protest on September 30 amid nationwide demonstrations, government forces opened fire, killing around sixty civilians. In the following days two dozen more residents were killed.

Iranian plainclothes agents raided a girls' high school in Ardabil, northwest of Iran and an Azari speaking city, on Thursday, injuring 10 students and arresting seven others. One schoolgirl has died of internal bleeding, according to the Iranian Teachers' Trade Association. Reportedly, the government was trying to force the school girls to participate in a pro-regime rally.

Video showing confusion and ambulances in the girls' high school in Ardabil

An anonymous announcement came out in Tabriz, the largest Azari speaking city in Iran following the incident in Ardebil calling on citizens to join nationwide protests on Saturday, warning government forces not to raise their fists against the people.

Independent Iranian human rights group based abroad, HRANA reported that as of Friday evening 233 protesters were confirmed killed by security forces, including 32 children. Earlier, Amnesty International had reported 23 children dead.

HRANA added that authorities have arrested 7,704 protesters, including 170 university students. In the past four weeks 428 street and university protest gatherings have taken place in 112 cities and towns.

School children have been also protesting forced hijab after Mahsa Amini was killed in ‘morality’ police custody in mid-September. An unknown number of school students have been arrested and sent to what the government says “psychological” rehabilitation centers, which no one has ever heard about.

The ethnic Arab population of the oil-rich Khuzestan province in the southwest also protested on Friday. Due to government disruption of Internet access no videos have been received by text messages say there were fierce protests Friday evening in Ahvaz, the provincial capital, with security forces firing weapons.

The government also organized a gathering of supporters in Tehran on Friday, which coincided with Prophet Mohammed’s birthday. Several thousand people took part, but the crowd seemed much smaller than in similar past rallies.

Iran’s ruler Ali Khamenei also gave a speech in an Islamic conference organized by Tehran, where he spoke about his vision of Muslim unity, without directly attacking the protests that have rocked Iran for four weeks.

An anonymous group of activists calling themselves the Tehran Youth have called for nationwide protests on Saturday [October 15], which is expected to become a new round of rallies and demonstrations around the country similar to unrest on October 8 and 12.

Iran International obtained the copy of a message sent to all retired members of the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) and all those affiliated with it to join the government forces planning to confront protesters on Saturday. But our information indicates many have refused to show up at 8:00 am at Tehran’s IRGC headquarters. This means that government forces may not have the required numbers to disperse protesters who have adopted a new tactic of coming into streets in various location instead of one large gathering.

In a statement after a G7 meeting in Berlin on Friday, German Women’s Minister Lisa Paus and her G7 counterparts appealed to the Islamic Republic to put an end to violence and the suppression of protests in the country, sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in custody of hijab police. 

“We call on the Iranian government to listen to the concerns of its own people, to respect their rights and to immediately put an end to the ongoing brutal repression of peaceful protests, which stands in contradiction to Iran's obligations under International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR),” they said. “We applaud the courage of the Iranian women and girls who are peacefully protesting together with their fellow citizens.”

Adopted by the UN General Assembly, the ICCPR – of which Iran is a member -- commits states parties to respect the civil and political rights of individuals, including the right to life, freedom of religion, freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. 

Urging the Iranian government to “put an end to all forms of persecution and violence against all Iranians, especially against Iranian women and girls," they reminded Iran that “Women's rights are human rights, and the Iranian authorities are “obligated under international law to guarantee the equal and full enjoyment of all human rights by all women and girls.”

In a tweet on Friday, the top EU diplomat said he spoke with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, conveying to him “EU's clear and united position: people in Iran have the right to peaceful protest and to defend fundamental rights.”

"Violent repression must stop immediately. Protesters must be released. Internet access and accountability are needed," he added.

According to unconfirmed reports, the EU is set to sanction four entities and 11 high-ranking Iranian military and security officials for their roles in the repression of the uprising, ignited by the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. 

Also on Friday, a senior EU official said the EU foreign ministers will meet in Luxembourg on Monday to discuss the transfer of Iranian drones to Russia, noting that the ministers will not take any decisions on additional Iran sanctions but could reach a political agreement on future sanctions linked to a transfer of drones. 

Despite numerous reports by the Ukrainian military about the use of the Iranian drones by the Russian forces, the 27-nation bloc is still trying to find independent evidence for the use of Tehran-supplied drones in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the official added. 

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said on October 10, Russia had used Iran-made drones to attack dozens of civilian targets in Ukraine. The Ukrainian military claimed on October 8 that Russia has sent Iranian military drones to Belarus for possible attacks in western or central parts of Ukraine.