Remarks by the Iranian regime’s Deputy Minister of Security and Law Enforcement of the Ministry of Interior confirm that the brutal crackdown on major protests in Iran in November 2019 were premeditated.
During a press conference on Tuesday, Hossein Zolfaghari, the Deputy Minister of Security and Law Enforcement, said: “The Supreme National Security Council had predicted the incidents of the November 2019. Our opinion was to have a fixed fuel price, standing at 15,000 rials. And we had predicted protests, we had predicted the social consequences of raising the fuel price. In the early hours after the plan was declared nothing happened. But, starting Friday noon, a group from outside of the country started some actions, some people were also protesting, and then other things happened.”
Zolfaghari’s remarks show the Iranian regime was aware of the Iranian society’s restiveness and had prepared to oppress any voice of dissent. Yet, the nationwide Iran protests were so huge that they shocked the regime’s officials and rattled the foundations of the ruling theocracy. People’s demands soon turned political, calling for regime change and chanting slogans such as “death to the dictator.”
The regime’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei ordered the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) “to do whatever it takes” to oppress the protesters. According to the information tallied by the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), at least 1500 protesters were killed by the regime’s security forces, 4,000 were wounded, and more than 12,000 people were arrested. The subsequent death sentences the regime issued for the detained protesters suggest that the mullahs intend to continue the killing spree of November to hold their grip on power.
Prior to Zolfaghari, the regime’s Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli announced that between 200 and 255 people lost their lives during the major protests in Iran in 2019. Despite his desperate effort to downplay the regime’s brutality after months of silence, his remarks once again underline the need for the world community to act and hold the mullahs’ regime to account for its crimes.
Human rights defenders and groups such as Amnesty International condemned the regime’s use of lethal force in suppressing protesters. “The fact that so many people were shot while posing no threat whatsoever shows the sheer ruthlessness of the security forces’ unlawful killing spree,” said Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s Research and Advocacy Director for the Middle East and North Africa, in this regard.
As to the Iranian society and its restiveness, Zolfaghari admitted on Tuesday that there were 519 calls for protests in the first five months of last (Persian) year. “This year in the same timeframe, there were 1,702 calls for protests which shows a 227% increase,” he said.
“To prevent social tension, we sent 610 strategic reports with clear suggestions to the country’s authorities.”
The ongoing protests in Iran confirm that despite the regime’s brutal crackdown, the mullahs have not been able to completely quell the Iranian society and anything could cause the Iranian society to explode. For the regime, the only possible answer is to further increase its oppression, even though this will not help the regime get out of the crisis.
Yet, Zolfaghari and Rahmani Fazli’s remarks also highlight the need for the international community to intervene and hold the regime’s officials to account for their crimes, to avoid further brutalities, such as the recent execution of Mostafa Salehi, who was arrested during the 2018 uprising. The regime’s Judiciary recently upheld the death sentence for Navid Afkari Sangari, a wrestling champion, who was arrested in 2018. If the world community does not act immediately, the regime will continue cracking down on protesters.
