Iran’s Hardline Media Threaten Sunni Cleric After Zahedan Attack
Following an armed attack on a police station in Iran’s Sunni city of Zahedan Saturday, media affiliated with security forces have threatened the city’s top Sunni cleric.
Following an armed attack on a police station in Iran’s Sunni city of Zahedan Saturday, media affiliated with security forces have threatened the city’s top Sunni cleric.
The attack Saturday morning by four gunmen targeted a police precinct and resulted in the death of two officers and the attackers. The prominent Sunni religious leader Mowlana Abdolhamid quickly condemned the act, but media linked to the Revolutionary Guard and security organs threatened the dissident cleric on Sunday.
Nour News affiliated with the Supreme National Security Council issued a tweet, blaming Abdolhamid’s critical comments in the past nine months for the attack.
“Destructive statements against the system…are the red line of the regime,” the tweet said and added, “The pure blood of martyrs defending security who were martyred in the terrorist attack on precinct 16 in Zahedan, will not go without punishment.” Although Nour News did not name Abdolhamid, but the target of the threat is clear in the context of Iranian politics.
The attack was reportedly claimed by a Sunni militant group called Jaish al-Adl, or ‘the army of justice,’ which has been fighting the Islamic Republic for a long time but has been largely inactive in recent years. Some people speculated after the attack that it could have been staged by the government to prepare the ground for a crackdown of the restive Sunni population of Baluch ethnicity.
Tasnim new website affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard did directly address the Sunni cleric. In a report about the attack Tasnim wrote, “Mr. Abdolhamid, you are responsible for having prepared the ground for today’s terrorist operation.”
This was a direct reference to Abdolhamid’s stinging criticism of the regime and calling for a referendum on the future of the country, respect for women, the release of political prisoners, and genuine elections.
Tensions in Zahedan have been high since security forces, under the command of the Revolutionary Guard, killed an estimated 80-90 civilian protesters in the city on September 30, 2022, marking the start of anti-regime nationwide protests in Iran. This tragic event became known as Black Friday.
Since then, the people of Zahedan have been participating in peaceful demonstrations every Friday after prayers and sermons by Abdolhamid, their respected religious leader.
The authorities have attempted to intimidate and silence Abdolhamid, who has regularly criticized the rulers of the Islamic Republic in his sermons.
Some reports have suggested that the police station - precinct #16 - was the compound from where security forces opened fire last September, because it was close to the main mosque where people began their protest march.
Tasnim also threatened Abdolhamid’s followers claiming that they engage in destruction of public and private property, even though all Friday protests have been peaceful marches.
In his statement after the attack, Abdolhamid said, “Our path is pursuing solutions for difficulties society faces through negotiations and constructive criticism, ensuring the territorial integrity of the country and justice, by peaceful means.”
Although incidents of attacks against security forces have occurred in the impoverished and desolate province in the past, the general population has remained peaceful. On Friday, June 30 for example, Zahedan residents held a silent march in the city.
In recent weeks, the regime has escalated pressure on the outspoken cleric by arresting several individuals from his inner circle and supporters. Abdolhamid has also been prevented from leaving Iran for the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia. In June, his grandson and several aides were arrested.
Gholamreza Nouri Ghezeljeh told Rouydad24 website in Tehran that lower inflation figures close to 40 percent presented by some officials who claim they have controlled rising prices is the product of their imagination.
The Iranian government claims to have controlled the inflation rate at about 40 percent. However, as Ghezeljeh noted "High inflation cannot be concealed from the people as they find out about it when they purchase goods in their everyday life."
"Playing with figures will not solve the problem of Iran's economy," said Ghezaljeh, adding that "downplaying economic problems will add to people's distrust of the government." Otherwise, insisting that inflation is under control, while people feel the pressure of rising prices will not solve any problem."
Meanwhile. Former lawmaker Gholam Ali Jafarzadeh Imanabadi blamed the Iranian President for the economic hardships and said: "Raisi is directly responsible for the people's difficult economic situation." He charged that "Raisi keeps issuing orders," but does not realize that his orders do not work.
Imanabadi claimed that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei allowed the government to make an agreement with the West over the 2015 nuclear deal in a bid to solve the country's economic problems by lifting US sanctions. However, ultraconservative Paydari Party members in the Raisi administration obstructed such an agreement.
The former lawmaker said a nuclear agreement was within reach during the last months of Former President Hassan Rouhani's presidency as the United States was prepared to make a deal with Iran. But Raisi chanted anti-US slogans after his election in June 2021 and formed a new negotiating team that proved to be inefficient in taking the negotiations forward.
Imanabadi reiterated: "It was not US sanctions that created the current economic problem in Iran. It was Raisi's inefficiency and his grudge against the United States that led Iranians to misery although former Foreign Minister Javad Zarif had warned him that the favorable diplomatic situation was going to change in a few months."
It is not clear if Imanabadi’s claim of Khamenei having given a green light to an agreement is true. Developments during negotiations in mid-2010s and in the past two years show that his office follows every detail in the talks and is the ultimate decider.
Earlier, another lawmaker, Jalal Mahmoudzadeh had said that "the government looks the people in the eye and lies to them." While the government boasts about improving economic indicators, an increasing number of Iranians are forced to live in tents erected in parks and streets as they cannot afford to rent a house particularly in the big cities.
“All the statistics and economic figures presented by Raisi, and other state officials are unreal. It is interesting that statements by the President contradict figures issued by his own government's Statistical Center of Iran."
In yet another development, Iranian economist Vahid Shaghaghi Shahri told Etemad newspaper that "during the past 8 years the government has sold $531 billion of oil while there has been no job creation because employment is an outcome of productivity and investment, the two factors that have been non-existent in Iran."
Iran has sold $1.5 trillion of oil during the past 50 years, but the outcome of this has been nothing other than a non-competitive, monopolized, semi-government economy which looks like a caricature of real economy, he said.
The figure he cited mostly represents oil income during the Islamic Republic as oil prices were much lower in the 1970s.
Shahri charged that Iran's development stopped in the 2010s. Iran's economic challenges were created because of a certain school of thought [presumably religious fundamentalism and a xenophobia marked by anti-Americanism], he argued. Therefore, it is impossible to solve the economic crisis with the same approach.
Former Iranian diplomat, Fereydoun Majlesi told Rouydad24 website in Tehran that "Iran can either accept the West's solution or follow its own path and be prepared for its consequences."
Referring to higher oil exports by Iran, he said: It is true that the restrictions imposed on Iran by the United States are getting weaker on a daily basis, but this should give no reason to Iran to continue its hostile behavior."
He explained that "In fact, Iran has restricted itself."
He also touched upon another aspect of Iran's approach to negotiations. Majlesi said: "Raisi administration's negotiators do not wish to fight the West, but at the same time, they refuse to accept the rules of negotiations. They do not know what to do and that has led to a halt."
"The three European countries in the JCPOA have declared that Iran has violated the agreement. The West believes that Iran's missile development was against the terms of the JCPOA. Some even believe that Iran is potentially very close to producing a nuclear bomb. Therefore, the minimum precondition by the West is returning to the JCPOA as it was under President Hassan Rouhani," Majlesi maintained.
He added: "The point is that a country which is under serious pressures and its case is going to be referred to the UN Security Council can hardly set a precondition for negotiations." He added that Iranian officials should realize that the people are suffering under these pressures, so the government has only two solutions ahead: Accept the West's terms or pay for their own final solution.
Etemad Online in Tehran quoted Iran's ambassador to the United Nations, Amir Saeed Iravani as saying that Tehran's space and missile programs and regional issues do not fall within the scope of UN Resolution 2231, adding that "We are prepared to resume the negotiations to return to the JCPOA as soon as possible and to ensure its full compliance by all parties involved."
Resolution 2231 was related to the JCPOA nuclear agreement and restricted Iranian weapons capable of carrying nuclear weapons. Western powers are lately arguing that Iran is in violation of the agreement, among other things, by delivering drones to Russia.
Meanwhile, Iravani expressed strong objections to the participation of Ukraine's UN ambassador in the July 6 meeting about non-proliferation and the JCPOA. "We strongly protest to the UN Security Council Chief for inviting a country that has nothing to do directly or indirectly to the meeting's agenda. This was neither constructive nor indicative of goodwill," he said.
He described inviting Ukraine's representative to the meeting, "an attempt to divert attentions from the agenda which was discussing implementing the JCPOA and Western side's non-compliance to the agreement particularly the United States' withdrawal from the deal."
He further insisted that Washington should be recognized as the party responsible for the current situation as it has withdrawn from the 2015 deal. Iravani added that the three European partners of the JCPOA have neglected their commitments under the deal and Resolution 2231. He said the United States has arrogantly forced other UN members to violate Resolution 2231. "this is unprecedented," Iravani said.
Under the circumstances, Iravani said, Iran has no choice other than adopting countermeasures to restore its rights under paragraphs 26 and 36 of the JCPOA. "It was the United States and not Iran that left the agreement," he said, adding that whatever Iran has done as her reaction is revocable once the agreement is restored.