Why Top Iran Commander In Syria Was Forced To Return

The hardliner media in Iran has tried to accuse provocateurs and paid mercenaries for protests in the country’s third largest city that began more than two weeks by farmers demanding water and turned into anti-government unrest after security forces attacked demonstrators on Thursday and Friday.

But Fars on Saturday took the allegations to a new level by accusing US Democrats of “once again” fomenting unrest to gain leverage days before talks in Vienna are due to start for the revival of the 2015 nuclear agreement, the JCPOA.

It is not clear why the Democrats are being accused of using an old tactic, except for large protests in 2009 during the Obama presidency that were triggered when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the winner of the presidential race and millions of people came out to the streets to challenge the hastily announced official results.

Following the 2009 protests, which the Obama administration did not vocally support, there were no other large protests in Iran until after Donald Trump’s election, when nationwide unrest broke out against economic hardship in late December 2017.

As authorities restricted internet access in Esfahan and other cities, videos on social media showed groups of protesters shouting, “Death to the dictator”, and slogans against Iran’s intervention in Syria, demanding attention to the country’s internal problems.

Anti-riot police remained in the streets in large numbers, trying to end the protests that began two weeks ago by farmers from regions around the city, demanding water for irrigating their parched fields.

An Iranian human rights group said its preliminary information indicates authorities have arrested 120 people.

Security forces used tear gas, batons, and shotguns firing “bird shots” at demonstrators that inflicted serious injuries. Images and reports from local sources show that three people might have been killed, but a final toll has not been confirmed by the government or human rights activists monitoring the situation.

Mohammad-Reza Mir-Heidari, Esfahan’s police chief confirmed that citizens were injured but he also insisted that security forces were also hurt by stone-throwing protesters. He threatened “to deal” with protesters.

Protests started Friday morning in the dry bed of Zayandeh Roud where farmers had been protesting for over two weeks but spread to the other areas of the city after security forces drove them out.

Videos posted on social media Friday afternoon showed protesters angrily chanting slogans against Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, clerical rule, and security forces in some instances, they clashed with them. "We are here to fight, fight us and we will fight you back," they chanted in one place while in another they shouted "Death to the Supreme Leader” and "Blessed be your soul O' King" referring to Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi who was deposed by the Islamic Revolution of 1979.

In two videos posted on social media, a woman is seen unconscious on the ground with blood on her face and in another a man is fallen on asphalt while the person recording the scene on video said he was shot dead. In another video three men are shown at a hospital emergency room with bloody bandaged heads, apparently hit with batons, while medical staff tend to them. Social media users also claim many were injured with birdshot fired from shotguns.

"It was the police who did this, don't go and claim later that they were thugs and hooligans," a wounded old man in one of the videos says. Authorities often refer to anti-government protesters as "thugs and hooligans".

The videos also show several riot police beating a protester with batons and kicking him, men and women with bloody heads and faces and an old man with multiple birdshot wounds on his back.

The regime is in crisis and this crisis is not limited to Esfahan and its water problem, Saeed Madani, social researcher in Tehran, told Iran International. Farmers in Esfahan protested peacefully in the most civil manner, they did not even take to the streets, instead they chose the dry riverbed and used their constitutional right to protest in the most logical way and were supported by a good number of other citizens also affected by water shortage, he added.

"The authorities showed some tolerance at first but sadly yesterday and today they showed their usual response, the same [violent] response as in Khuzestan and other places," Madani told Iran International.

From around 6:00 PM, there have been reports of mobile internet shutdown and slowing down of wi-fi internet to prevent videos of the protests being posted online. One video posted on Twitter shows drivers honking their horns repeatedly on the streets in protest after dark.

The state-run television (IRIB) showed a scene of the protests Friday morning where people chanted against the IRIB and called it a disgrace. The report said security forces had had to use tear gas to disperse protesters which it claimed were a small group. The report also insisted that farmers protesting water shortage had ended their protests Thursday and were not involved in Friday's protests.

The government's tolerance for civil and environmental protests is limited and they always resort to violence when protests reach a point when they fear the unrest could spread, Iran International's journalist and analyst Morteza Kazemian says. "It's incapable of a logical and professional response," he said.

Kazemian cited the remarks of the Friday prayer imam of Mashhad, Ahmad Alamolhoda, the father-in-law of President Ebrahim Raisi, as an example who said water shortage would not be solved by rallies and protests. "Rallies against god will not work. Rallies must be to pray for rain,", Alamolhoda, Khamenei's powerful representative in Khorasan-e Razavi Province said.

"How water resources should be managed is something the authorities have no answer for," Kazemian added.

In a series of Tweets, the US-based heir to the Iranian throne, said the people in the city exhibited “bravery, unity, resistance and steadfastness in seeking justice.” He added that the unarmed residents of Esfahan and farmers who had come to the city faced brutality by “armed mercenaries of the Islamic Republic” and showed to what extent the regime is afraid of the nation.

People have been protesting lack of water for two weeks. The government first tolerated the protests, but this week they decided to use force against demonstrators. On Thursday, they attacked and burned a makeshift camp protesters had set up on the dry riverbed of the iconic Zayandeh Roud river and on Friday they cracked down on residents who came out to protest.

Prince Reza Pahlavi also urged unity among different regions on the issue of water scarcity. Critics have alleged that the government is trying to put one region against the other over who will get more water.

Drought and mismanagement by the government have led to a serious water crisis in Iran.

Minister of Communications and Information technology, Issa Zarepour, who supervises Iran’s space program told local media that the project to reach the high orbit was planned to be accomplished in 10 years, but Raisi asked to speed up the program. The president pledged all the assistance needed to help Iran’s Space Agency.

Although some of Iran’s attempts to launch satellites have failed, it currently has four satellites in low orbit. In April 2020, a military satellite called Nour 1 was launched.

In February, the defense ministry said it tested a new satellite carrier rocket for an orbit of less than 500 km.

The United States and other countries are concerned that Iran’s satellite program is a cover for developing ballistic missiles that can exceed the current 2,000 km range of Iranian missiles.

Zarepour also said that Raisi emphasized the need to commercialize Iran’s rocket and space capabilities by exporting expertise and engineering knowhow.