Monday, January 1, 2018

'Iron Fist Is Out': Islamic Revolutionary Guard Assumes Control As Protests Rage




"Iron Fist is Out": Islamic Revolutionary Guard Assumes Control of Security Arrangements in Tehran As Protests Rage



Are Iranian protesters about to face-off against the Islamic Revolutionary Guard? According to Roozarooz, an Iranian news agency, Iranian military forces have assumed security measures in Tehran, the country’s capital.

The news was translated by Wall Street Journal reporter Farnaz Fassihi.
“ announced it is taking charge of  security. Iron fist is out,” tweeted Fassihi.
Foreign affairs firm Strategic Sentinel confirmed the report.
“The IRGC, a branch of Iran’s Armed Forces, will soon take total control of security within the capital city of  as protests continue throughout the country.”


Amid the development, protesters continue to flood the streets of Tehran.
In October, the Trump administration designated Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organization.
“I am authorizing the Treasury Department to further sanction the entire Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps for its support for terrorism and to apply sanctions to its officials, agents, and affiliates,” President Trump told the press.
“The IRGC has played a central role to Iran becoming the world’s foremost state sponsor of terror,” said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in a separate statement.
“We urge the private sector to recognize that the IRGC permeates much of the Iranian economy, and those who transact with IRGC-controlled companies do so at great risk.”







Iranian protesters attacked police stations late into the night on Monday, news agency and social media reports said, as security forces struggled to contain the boldest challenge to the clerical leadership since unrest in 2009.

Videos on social media showed an intense clash in the central town of Qahderijan between security forces and protesters who were trying to occupy a police station, which was partially set ablaze. There were unconfirmed reports of several casualties among demonstrators.

In the western city of Kermanshah, protesters set fire to a traffic police post, but no one was hurt in the incident, Mehr news agency said.

Demonstrations continued for a fifth day. Some 13 people were reported killed on Sunday in the worst wave of unrest since crowds took to the streets in 2009 to condemn the re-election of then-president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The protests have put pressure on the clerical leaders in power since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. President Hassan Rouhani made a televised call for calm on Sunday, saying Iranians had the right to criticize but must not cause unrest.


In the central city of Najafabad, a demonstrator opened fire on police with a hunting rifle, killing one and wounding three others, state television said.

Earlier, state TV said armed demonstrators on Sunday had tried to seize police and military bases but were stopped by “strong resistance from security forces.” It gave no further details and there was no independent confirmation.

State TV had reported that 10 people were killed in protests on Sunday. On Monday, that death toll rose when the deputy governor of the western Hamadan Province, Saeed Shahrokhi, told ISNA news agency that another three protesters were killed on Sunday in the city of Tuyserkan.








A classified memo assessing the unfolding Iran protests distributed by the Foreign Ministry reportedly determines that the demonstrations have weakened the regime in Tehran and may threaten its stability if they continue.
The document, which was drawn up by the ministry’s intelligence wing and shared with the Prime Minister’s Office, the security cabinet, and Israeli embassies around the world, says the regime was caught off-guard by the protests, and, in response, is trying to use means such as arrests and blocking social media to quell the demonstrations, Channel 10 reported Monday.
While the protests do not currently pose a threat to the regime, the Foreign Ministry states that they do sap its legitimacy, and could undermine it in the long term. “At the moment, the protests do not constitute a threat to the survival of the regime, but they do weaken it and undermine its legitimacy, and they are likely to threaten its stability in the long term,” the document reportedly states.

The document also says that Iran’s relatively moderate president, Hassan Rouhani, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps are on the same page regarding efforts to end the protests, and that the IRGC and Basij militia are exercising restraint and focusing on deterrence, Channel 10 reported.

In Iran, fresh protests broke out as night fell on Monday with reports of a policeman shot dead, as the authorities moved to crack down on days of unrest across the country.

The latest demonstrations came despite Rouhani’s vow that the nation would deal with “rioters and lawbreakers.”



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