Iran's Persecution Of Baha’i 'Crime Against Humanity', Says Human Rights Watch

Hossein Shariatmadari, a hardliner aligned with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and head of the Kayhan Daily in Tehran, said, “The United Nations, which has recognized the Zionist regime, must firstly; respect the provisions of the Vienna Convention and secondly; respect the recognized principle of retaliation in international law and support Iran's attack on the diplomatic centers of the fake Israeli regime".

The suspected Israeli airstrike in Damascus resulted in the death of seven of its military advisers, including three senior commanders including Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior leader of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Quds Force. General Mohammad-Hadi Haji-Rahimi, a deputy of Zahedi, was also killed in the strike.

Iran's ambassador to Syria, Hossein Akbari, confirmed the deaths and vowed a "harsh" response from Tehran.

Meanwhile, Jalal Rashidi Koochi, a senior member of the Iranian parliament, advocated for a “clear and direct” response targeting Israeli diplomatic centers in regional countries, with Azerbaijan suggested as a potential target.

Just last year, an Iran-backed plot to attack the Israeli embassy in Baku was foiled in a joint effort by Israeli and Azeri security. 

Iran's military installations in Syria have long been targeted by alleged Israeli airstrikes, but Monday's attack was the first time the embassy compound was hit.

Israeli intelligence analyst, Ronen Solomon, from Intellitimes, says the target was indeed not diplomatic, but says the property was actually used as an IRGC-HQ to host staff members from the Revolutionary Guards.

The Jewish state has ramped up strikes in Syria in parallel with its campaign against the Iran-backed Palestinian group Hamas, which ignited the Gaza war when on October 7 it invaded Israel, killing around 1,200 mostly civilians and took over 250 hostage.

Israel has not commented on the allegations.

The rial fell to almost 630,000 against the US dollar, a historic low by midday Tuesday, less than 24 hours after the news broke of an airstrike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, the capital of Syria, on Monday. Before the attack the rial was trading at 612,000 against the dollar.

The euro reached 674,000 and the British pound 788,000 rials on Tuesday, leading to a stark outlook for inflation in Iran in the coming months.

The Damascus attack, which Israel has not acknowledged, was the most serious blow to Iran's regional ambitions since the killing of IRGC's Qasem Soleimani by a US drone strike in Baghdad in January 2020. The generals killed in the attack were all involved in leading Tehran's proxy forces in Lebanon and Syria, coordinating attacks against Israel and US military bases in the region.

Iran immediately accused Israel and vowed revenge, increasing the chances for an escalation of the fighting and simmering tensions in the region, in the wake of Hamas's invasion of Israel on October 7.

Iran's rial has fallen more than 20 percent since January, exceeding a 15-fold depreciation since 2018 when the United States withdrew from the JCPOA nuclear deal and imposed oil export and banking sanctions on Iran.

This has led to five consecutive years of high inflation, between 40 and 50 percent annually, impoverishing tens of millions of Iranians. Food prices have soared by triple digits and housing has become unaffordable for many working class people.

The response would come “with the same magnitude and harshness,” Iran’s ambassador to Syria Hossein Akbari said a few hours after the strike. He had not been on the premises and survived. In Tehran, President Ebrahim Raisi accusing Israel of the attack, said it will not go unanswered. Foreign minister, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, accused Israel of violating “all diplomatic norms and international treaties.”

Two Iranian hardliner figures called for attacks against Israeli embassies "in the region," one openly saying that Iran should target the embassy in Baku, Azerbaijan.

The airstrike Monday was by all accounts an unprecedented escalation of hostilities that broke out on October 7th, but has been going on with varying intensity for much longer. Israel has on many occasions hit IRGC-related targets in Syria, but never before a diplomatic site.

The gravity of the attack was highlighted by immediate condemnations from governments across the Middle East –with Pakistan, Iraq, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Saudi Arabia all expressing concern and displeasure.

“The Ministry [of Foreign Affairs] expresses the Kingdom’s categorical rejection of targeting diplomatic facilities for any justification, and under any pretext, which is a violation of international diplomatic laws and the rules of diplomatic immunity,” read the statement from the foreign ministry of Saudi Arabia.

Russia also issued a statement, calling the attack on Iran’s consulate in Damascus "categorically unacceptable." But the harshest response came from Hezbollah in Lebanon, Iran’s most powerful ally sharing a border with Israel.

"Certainly, this crime will not pass without the enemy receiving punishment and revenge," the group vowed in a brief but pointed statement. It called Israel "foolish" for believing that assassinating leaders can stop "the roaring tide of people's resistance."

Images emerged on Iranian state-affiliated social media accounts shortly after the attack purporting to show a rally in Tehran to protest against the suspected Israeli targeted assassination of senior IRGC commanders.

The two generals were confirmed by IRGC to be Mohammad-Reza Zahedi, the Quds Force’s top man in Syria and Lebanon, and his deputy, Mohammad-Hadi Haji-Rahimi. Zahedi seems to be the most senior IRGC commander to be assassinated after Qasem Suleimani was killed in a US drone strike in Baghdad in January 2020.

The airstrike on Iran’s consulate in Damascus followed a much bigger Israeli attack inside Syria last week, in which more than 40 people were killed –mainly Syrian soldiers and Hezbollah fighters.

Some sources have suggested that the attack on Iran’s consulate Monday was a response to a drone attack on Israel Sunday night, which hit a naval base in Eilat. A spokesman for Israel army said the drone was “made in Iran” and the attack was “directed by Iran.”

Whether Israel acknowledges the attack or not, the incident is bound to escalate the already tense situation in the region.

The Secretary-General of Kata'ib Sayyid al-Shuhada, an Iraqi armed group backed by the regime in Tehran, posted “You will see Hell” on X, hours after the attack, likely addressing Israel and the United States.

The Pentagon confirmed late Monday a new attempt by Iran proxies in Syria to target a US base after almost two months of quiet on that front. A suicide drone heading towards the Al-Tanf garrison near the Syrian border with Jordan was shot down, the Pentagon said.

Perhaps more worrying for Washington, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq also issued a statement claiming to be ready to equip “the brothers, the Mujahideen of the Islamic Resistance in Jordan,” a US ally and the only country with no visible hostile force on Israeli borders. The statement claimed there were 12,000 fighters in Jordan.

It was previously known that Khamenei chose or endorsed the Ministers of Intelligence, Interior, Defense and Foreign Affairs of all of Iran's presidents. However, Rouhani has said in an interview with Etemad daily that he also nominated his ministers of Education, Higher Education, and Culture as well as the chairmen of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization and the Planning and Budget Organization "in coordination" with Khamenei.

This means that Khamenei effectively chose all of the key ministers and top officials in Rouhani's two cabinets between 2013 and 2021. Rouhani said this was done for "certain reasons" but he did not elaborate on what those reasons were.

Mostafa Faghihi, the editor of Entekhab website, a media outlet close to Rouhani, wrote in a long tweet on March 29 that hardliners in Iran: "never thought that Rouhani would win the 2017 election. They were pretty sure that Raisi was going to be the winner, but this was not the case. They were so angry about the failure of their plan."

Faghihi wrote: "By the end of Rouhani's first term of office as President, the nuclear deal with the West was made despite hardliners' obstruction, the value of the rial had remained stable for four years and even worse from the hardliners' point of view, the people were happy with Rouhani's performance. So, the state TV, the Friday Imams and the rest of hardliners' propaganda machine were mobilized to turn the people against Rouhani."

Faghihi added that hardliners then planned and carried out several quasi-Coup d'états against Rouhani. Rouhani himself said in the interview that he may talk about those events at another opportunity, but did not say why was not able to talk about those plots now. However, Faghihi's reference to Mashhad Friday Prayers Imam Ahmad Alamolhoda is reminiscent of the rumors in 2017 that pointed fingers at the firebrand cleric in Mashhad for instigating a riot in the city.

In the interview Rouhani gave a different version of some the events of his presidency. Although there is public knowledge that IRGC commanders held a meeting with him to protest his comments about a parallel "government with guns," a clear reference to the IRGC's intervention in the affairs of the state, Rouhani said in the interview that IRGC commanders including Qasem Soleimani came to him with a request: To choose his Defense Minister from among the ranks of the IRGC. This came while according to Rouhani, Khamenei, when asked, said that it makes no difference as long as he endorses the minister.

Meanwhile, Rouhani complained that after nationwide protests broke out following a sudden rise in the price of gasoline in November 2019, Ebrahim Raisi was the first person to twitt against the price rise while he was one of the three officials who made the final decision about the controversial price rise and had signed the resolution.

At the time, Raisi was the Judiciary Chief, Ghalibaf was the Speaker of the Majles and with Rouhani, they were the heads of the three powers of the government who made the decision as the parliament was too hesitant to make a decision whose consequences were not clear. The price rise was delayed several times since 2013 but it was a measure that was essential for the country in hard times.

According to Rouhani, the Majles was fearing a backlash at a time when Donald Trump's withdrawal from the JCPOA nuclear deal and his additional sanctions against Iran had badly hit the Iranian economy. The inflation rate was fast rising, and the national currency was falling. Acknowledging the impact of price rises, however, Rouhani claimed that he himself did not know about the timing of the gasoline price increase.

Rouhani claimed that there were plots to take advantage of the situation to start a riot, but he did not name any individual or group who were behind the plot. Nonetheless, he said that "The Ministry of Intelligence and the local governors told me they have arrested several individuals and knew who were behind the plot."

“After the revolution, only two hotels have been built in Tehran, and one of the reasons for the lack of hotel construction in cities is the high municipal fees, which dissuades people from venturing into hotel development,” he added, blaming bureaucracy.

The revelation comes amidst a broader context of the crisis facing Iran's tourism industry in a country with a once vibrant tourism industry. Concerns about safety and the risk of arbitrary detention by authorities have deterred foreign travelers, despite Iran's rich cultural and historical attractions.

The Iranian government's history of seizing foreign nationals for political leverage or espionage charges has fostered an atmosphere of uncertainty for tourists. This, coupled with mandatory hijab rules and restrictions on alcohol and nightlife, has contributed to a decline in international visitors, particularly after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Hopes for a tourism resurgence following the 2015 nuclear deal were dashed when then-US President Donald Trump withdrew from the agreement in 2018, triggering a downturn in Iran's tourism prospects. Mass protests and the detention of several Europeans last year further exacerbated the situation, prompting Western countries to issue travel advisories cautioning against visiting Iran.

Earlier, Hormatollah Rafi'ee, a representative of the tourism sector, expressed concerns about the government's failure to capitalize on tourism opportunities, highlighting a decline in incoming tourists despite claims of growth.