Iran International
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has lauded its fighters in Syria, known as "defenders of the Holy Shrine" as pivotal in safeguarding both Iran and the broader region "against threats."
In a Saturday address, Khamenei described "the Defenders of the Holy Shrine" as young individuals from various nationalities who embody the Islamic Republic's worldview. The Islamic Republic authorities specifically use this term to refer to Tehran-backed militias deployed for more than a decade to fight for Syria's strongman Bashar al-Assad.
“The enemy intended to seize the region and simultaneously impose economic, political and ideological pressures on Iran to undermine the Islamic system when a group of devout youths, led by the Islamic Republic of Iran, foiled the arrogant powers’ plot,” Khamenei said in a meeting with the members of the International Congress of Martyrs of Resistance and Defenders of the Shrine.
In Iraq also, armed proxy forces established and supported by Iran are sometimes called defenders of the Shrine, perhaps referring to Islamic State attacks on Shiite holy sites.
Khamenei emphasized the significance of these groups portraying them as exemplars of Iran's strategic outlook and commitment to regional stability. In fact, these groups are used to pressure regional governments, secular forces, attacking Israel and US interests.
The involvement of Iranian forces in Syria, spearheaded by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force under Khamenei's direct command, commenced in response to the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad during the Arab Spring in 2011.
Initially positioned as support to prevent Assad's regime from collapsing under widespread protests, Iran's military intervention evolved into a sustained effort to bolster Damascus against opposition forces and extremist groups and also to enhance Tehran's strategic position for continued confrontation with Israel.
Iran’s intervention in Syria has drawn significant international criticism. Critics argue that Tehran’s support has prolonged the conflict, exacerbated regional instability, and contributed to substantial casualties and displacement. Hundreds of thousands of civilians have been killed in the conflict, with Iran, Russia and Assad forces using overwhelmingly destructive weapons against large cities such as Aleppo.
Moreover, the economic strain of maintaining military operations abroad has added to domestic discontent within Iran, particularly amidst ongoing economic challenges exacerbated by international sanctions.
A series of anti-government protests in Iran since 2017 have underscored public dissatisfaction with the government’s prioritization of regional military engagements over domestic economic needs. Demonstrators have voiced grievances against Iran’s extensive political and financial support for groups like Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, chanting slogans such as “Neither Gaza nor Lebanon, I’ll sacrifice my life for Iran.”
The latest presidential election in Iran, held amidst these tensions, saw voter turnout fall below 40%, signaling widespread disillusionment with the political establishment. Despite this, Khamenei did not mention voter participation in his speech, emphasizing the continuation of his strategic policies.
Additionally, despite Iran's substantial military and financial support to Syria, it appears that President Assad may be undermining Iranian interests, suggesting that his priorities lie elsewhere. Syria’s recent decision to re-engage with the Arab League after years of diplomatic estrangement has sparked concerns in Iran about diminishing influence over Assad’s regime.
Syria’s alignment with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) on regional issues, including the UAE’s dispute with Iran over three strategically located islands in the Persian Gulf, has underscored regional shifts potentially detrimental to Iranian interests.
"I am a former hostage…I endured Evin, Iran's most notorious jail, and can't understand how Sweden can leave its citizen to die there," Namazi wrote in an opinion piece for the Guardian on Friday.
As part of the Stockholm-Tehran deal on June 15 two Swedish citizens Johan Floderus and Saeed Azizi were swapped with Hamid Nouri, a former prison official serving a life sentence in Sweden for war crimes for his role in mass executions of political prisoners in Iran in 1988. Sweden said that Iran refused to negotiate the release of Djalali in the deal.
“I am overjoyed to see Floderus and Azizi back home with their loved ones, but Stockholm’s decision to strike that deal and leave behind a Swedish citizen facing execution in Iran was unconscionable,” Namazi wrote.
Namazi argued that Sweden's failure to secure Djalali’s release reflects a troubling hierarchy in valuing citizens' lives and a severe lapse in negotiation.
“I believe it [Sweden] could have secured the release of all its nationals and several other European hostages, too, had it understood the value of the card it was holding,” Namazi added.
With a death sentence looming, Djalali has recently gone on a hunger strike as a last resort. In a message from Evin prison, he criticized the Swedish Prime Minister for leaving him out of the deal.
Namazi further referred to Djalali’s recent hunger strike adding that this isn’t the first time Dajali has been left out of a prisoner swap deal.
“I was still in Evin prison when Ahmadreza was omitted from the Belgium deal. As someone who had experienced the despair of being left behind from hostage deals several times myself, I understood his pain – though I wasn’t on death row,” Namazi wrote.
In May 2023, in a prisoner exchange deal with Brussels, Iran released Belgian aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele with Assadollah Assadi, an Iranian diplomat convicted of a plot to bomb an Iranian opposition rally in Paris in 2018.
Namazi wrote that Djalai was “purportedly the main candidate” to be swapped for Assadi but “his fate changed when Sweden arrested and sentenced Nouri, who had close ties to some of the most senior figures in the Islamic Republic.”
In December 2023, Amnesty International issued a statement saying that Djalali “is at grave risk of imminent retaliatory execution” the week that the appeals court in Sweden reaffirmed the life sentence of Hamid Nouri.
Namazi additionally recounted details of the times when he spent time in Evin with Djalali:
“He told me about the times when his captors took him to the brink of execution to bring pressure to bear on his would-be rescuers, and how in one instance he was tossed back in a solitary cell for five months to await his death”
“One morning, his sadistic jailers told him he would be hanged at sunrise the next day, and gave him what they said was a final call to his wife to say goodbye. He wished they had killed him in the first year of his arrest,” wrote Namazi shedding light onto the psychological torture Djalali was subject to.
Djalali a disaster medicine specialist was arrested in 2016 during a visit to Tehran. He was sentenced to death in 2017 on trumped-up charges without legal due process. He remains on hunger strike with his condition deteriorating as warned by human rights groups, activists, and his wife Vida Mehrannia.
Namazi, who was imprisoned in Iran for 8 years was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment on trumped-up charges of “collaborating with a foreign government”. He was released on 18 September 2023 as part of a prisoner swap with Iran brokered by the Biden administration, in which the US released 5 Iranian prisoners and paid $6 billion to the Iranian government.