West busy in character assassination of Raisi

Iran proclaimed five days of mourning for President Ebrahim Raisi on Monday, though the muted atmosphere revealed little of the spectacular public grief that has accompanied the deaths of other senior figures in the Islamic Republic's 45-year history.

While government loyalists packed into mosques and squares to pray for Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian, both killed in a helicopter crash, most shops remained open and the authorities made little effort to interrupt ordinary life.

A year after Raisi's hardline government cracked down violently to end the biggest anti-establishment demonstrations since the 1979 revolution, opponents even posted furtive video online of people passing out sweets to celebrate his death.

Laila, a 21-year-old student in Tehran, told Reuters by phone that she was not saddened by Raisi's death, "because he ordered the crackdown on women for hijab."

"But I am sad because even with Raisi's death this regime will not change," she said.

Rights groups say hundreds of Iranians died in 2022-2023 demonstrations triggered by the death in custody of a young Iranian Kurdish woman arrested by morality police for violating the country's strict dress codes.

The authorities' handling of an array of political, social and economic crises have deepened the gap between the clerical rulers and society.

Supporters of the clerical establishment spoke admiringly of Raisi, a 63-year-old former hardline jurist elected in a tightly controlled vote in 2021.

"He was a hard working president. His legacy will endure as long as we are alive," said Mohammad Hossein Zarrabi, 28, a member of the volunteer Basij militia in the holy Shi'ite city of Qom.

But there was little of the emotional rhetoric that accompanied the deaths of publicly revered figures, like Qasem Soleimani, a senior commander of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards killed by a US missile in 2020 in Iraq, whose funeral drew huge crowds of mourners, weeping with sorrow and rage.

For opponents of Iran's clerical rulers at home and in exile, Raisi has been a hate figure since the 1980s when he was blamed for playing a leading role as a jurist in the execution of dissidents. Iran has never acknowledged that mass executions took place; amnesty International says 5,000 Iranians, possibly more, were executed in the first decade after the revolution.

"I congratulate the families of the victims of the executions," internet user Soran Mansournia posted in an online forum debating the legacy of Raisi's death.

However, Narges, another user, lamented Raisi as having died "a martyr's death".

Many Iranians said they expected that Raisi's death would have little impact on how the country would be ruled, with the establishment likely to replace him with another figure with similarly hardline views.

"Who cares, one hardliner dies, another takes over and our misery continues," said Reza, 47, a shopkeeper in the central desert city of Yazd who did not give his full name fearing reprisals.

"We're too busy with economic and social issues to worry about such news."

 

Iranian Revolution Celebrations in Jeddah

A ceremony marking the 45th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution of Iran was held at the Iranian consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. 

The gathering was attended by Mazen bin Hamli, Director General of the Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in Jeddah, a large group of consuls stationed in Jeddah, representatives of various countries at the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, as well as traders, economic activists, and media personnel.

Hassan Zarnegar Abarghouei, Consul General of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Jeddah, delivered a speech, thanking the guests for joining Iranians in celebrating a big day in their country’s history.  

In his speech, he referred to the scientific and technological achievements and economic, tourism, and scientific capacities of Iran, emphasizing the necessity of developing relations between Tehran and Riyadh and the readiness of traders and merchants from both countries to expand cooperation.

He further emphasized the need for unity among Islamic countries to end the crimes of the Zionist regime against the besieged Palestinian people in Gaza. 

The Iranian Consulate in Saudi Arabia’s port city of Jeddah was officially reopened in June of last year. The two countries had severed their ties in January 2016 after the execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent Shia cleric in Saudi Arabia, prompted angry protests in front of the Saudi Embassy in Tehran and the kingdom's Consulate in the holy city of Mashhad.

China successfully mediated high-stakes talks between Tehran and Riyadh in March of last year, which led to the conclusion of a deal between the two sides that foresaw the resumption of their ties.

 

Iran: Tabas Desert a reminder of humiliating US defeat

On April 25, 1980, the United States launched a covert military operation, known as Operation Eagle Claw, in an attempt to airlift the US embassy staff held in the Iranian capital, Tehran. As a symbol of the failure of US plots against the Islamic Republic, Iran commemorates the event every year in Tabas where government officials, religious leaders and people gather.

The plan was to be based on the use of elements from four branches of the US defense forces: Army, Navy, Marines, and Air Force. The concept was based on an operation whereby helicopters and C-130 aircraft, following different routes, would rendezvous on a salt flat (code-named Desert One) 200 miles (320 km) southeast of Tehran. Here the helicopters would refuel from the C-130s and pick up the combat troops who had flown in on the C-130 transports. The helicopters would then transport the troops to a mountain location (Desert Two) closer to Tehran from which the actual rescue raid would be launched into the city the following night. The operation was further to be supported by an in-country CIA team. On completion of the raid, hostages were to be shepherded to a captured Tehran airport from which they were to be flown to Egypt.

Desert One was in South Khorasan Province, in the Dasht-e Lut desert near Tabas, while Desert Two was located 50 miles (80 km) short of Tehran.

The operation, one of Delta Force's first, encountered many obstacles and failures and was subsequently aborted.

Eight helicopters were sent to the first staging area called Desert One, but only five arrived in operational condition. One had encountered hydraulic problems; another was caught in a sand storm, and the third showed signs of a cracked rotor blade.

During the operational planning, it was decided that the mission would be aborted if fewer than six helicopters remained operational upon arrival at the Desert One site, despite only four being absolutely necessary. The field commanders advised US President Carter to abort the mission, which he did.

As the US forces prepared to withdraw from Desert One, one of the remaining helicopters crashed into a transport aircraft that contained both servicemen and jet fuel. The resulting fire destroyed both aircraft and killed eight servicemen.

The founder of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in a speech after the incident, condemned Jimmy Carter’s order for military intervention in Iran and said the mission had been stopped by an act of God (angels of God) who had foiled the US mission.

“Who crushed Mr. Carter's helicopters? We did? The sands did! They were God's agents. Wind is God's agent ... These sands are agents of God. They can try again.”

Carter blamed his loss in the 1980 US presidential election mainly on his failure to secure the release of the hostages. The American hostages were released on 20 January 1981; minutes after Ronald Reagan had taken the oath of office after winning the election against Carter.

Many believe Tabas incident played a major role in Carter’s defeat in the 1980 presidential election in the US.

43 years ago on this day, the US forces conceded a humiliating defeat in Tabas that later affected the country's internal politics.

Iran marks the 43rd anniversary of a failed US military operation in the central Tabas Desert that was launched under the direct order of the US President Jimmy Carter in an attempt to release former US embassy staff held in Tehran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. 

On November 03, the founder of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Khomeini delivered a decisive speech and called on Iranian people, students, and the clergies to thwart any US and Zionist regime’s conspiracies against the newly established Islamic Republic of Iran and also to oblige the US government to hand over Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who had gone to New York for medical treatment.

US interference in Iran's internal affairs, its refusal to hand over the fugitive Shah as well as the meeting of some interim government officials with Zbigniew Brzezinski, the National Security Advisor to President Jimmy Carter (November 01, 1978) flared up Iranian's rage and made them take some retaliatory measures.

On November 04, 1979, on the first anniversary of the massacre of 56 Iranian pupils by Shah’s troops, and the day on which Imam Khomeini was exiled to Turkey (November 04 1964) by the oppressive Pahlavi regime, almost 400 Iranian Muslim students known as Muslim Students of Imam Khomeini Line stormed the US embassy.

During the takeover of the embassy, documents were discovered that proved some of the American embassy staff had been working with US intelligence agencies; meaning they were spies. Some 52 Americans were held in Tehran for 444 days, but later released unharmed.

 

 

Iran celebrates 44th anniversary of Islamic Revolution

Millions of citizens in Iran took to the streets across the country on Saturday to celebrate the 44th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution that toppled the despotic Pahlavi regime.

The rallies in the capital Tehran began at 9:30 a.m. local time (06:00 GMT), with marchers from various social strata and different parts of the city marching toward the iconic Azadi (Freedom) Square.

People waved photos of the late founder of the Islamic Revolution Imam Khomeini, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, and legendary General Qassem Soleimani, who was assassinated in a 2020 US terrorist attack near the Iraqi capital Baghdad, as well as the martyrs of the Revolution.

The flight of colored balloons and iridescent papers from the Azadi Tower, the performance of professional parachutists of the Armed Forces and the mass recital of Iran’s national anthem were among the celebratory events held in the Azadi Square, Press TV reported.

On the eve of the 44th anniversary, fireworks displays were performed in Tehran and other cities, as people chanted Allahu Akbar (God is the Great) in an expression of support for the Islamic Revolution. 

The rallies were held in 1,400 Iranian cities and 38,000 villages.

The mass rallies on the 22nd of Bahman in the solar calendar, which corresponds with February 11, are held each year with tremendous patriotic fervor in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The Iranian nation overthrew the despotic regime of Pahlavi, which was fully supported by the United States in the winter of 1979. The struggle against the shah regime reached full fruition on February 11, 1979.

By December 1978, millions of Iranians had taken to the streets in protest against the policies of the shah – Mohammad Reza Pahlavi – on a regular basis.

Imam Khomeini returned to Iran from exile on February 01, 1979. He was received by millions of people weeks after the departure of the shah in mid-January 1979.

The collapse of the Pahlavi regime became certain on February 11 when the military renounced its loyalty to the shah and joined the Revolution.

Delivering a speech at the Azadi Square, President Ebrahim Raisi lauded the 22nd of Bahman as the day of the triumph of “truth over falsity,” the day of the victory of “the oppressed over the arrogant,” and the realization of the “miracle of the century.”

Raisi said the epic day put an end to tyranny and dependence and marked the beginning of independence, freedom and the Islamic Republic, adding that the day brought about the crystallization of the will of the great nation of Iran.

Stressing that both the establishment and the continuation of the Pahlavi regime was against the nation’s will and accompanied with a coup d'état, the Iranian president said, “They committed crimes and treason during their rule, and they were unconcerned about Iranian people’s great capacities, and only cared for the pleasure of the global hegemony and the United States."

“Pahlavi's despotic rule only brought backwardness to this nation and country,” Raisi added, “They came to power against the principles of the Constitution and with a coup.”

 

 

 

What has kept Islamic Republic of Iran intact over four decades?

Since the end of WWII, the United States has conducted coups against many nations, including Iran in 1953. The US involvement in toppling Shah in 1953 has been confirmed by unclassified CIA documents. After the revolution in 1979, the US and its allies have been making efforts to topple the regime in Islamic Republic of Iran by establishing and supporting various rebel factions within the country, but all in vain.   

It may be worth probing the factors that have kept the regime intact. These include:

1. Since 1979, the US has become increasingly hostile, causing the general population of Iran to become united in support of the regime. The biggest evidence came recently at the funeral of General Soleimani inside and outside Iran.
2. Iranians are concerned that the US support might bring a regime change that could be worse than the present regime.
3. The current regime has successfully created a semi-welfare state by subsidizing basic necessities, and lately providing free medical insurance to all, a situation that does not exist even in the US.
4. The US threats including a steady increase of sanctions, as economic terrorism have had a direct impact on ordinary Iranians.
5. The US pressure on Iranians to topple the present regime is based on the recent US history of regime changes in many countries, specifically in the Middle East, Central and South America.
6. Trump’s maximum pressure on Iran via sanctions has had a significant impact on ordinary Iranians to remain united.
7. Iranians as well as rest of the world understand that western democracy is based on wealth and is not true democracy.    

Strategic Planning of the incumbent regime moved on many fronts to thwart the US, which are:

1-      Going to Syria and defeating US-created ISIS and elements backed by the west, which include, defeat of ISIS in Syria and containment of devastation in Iraq, Libya and Syria.

2-      Policies and the ability to produce defensive and offensive weapons have made the prospect of a US invasion costly.

3-      Development of strategic alliances with Russia and China, with their UN veto power has effectively made overt US aggression illegal.

4-      Iranian regime making a major strategic shift to the balance of world power in favor of Iran, Russia, and China, against other western imperialists.

5-      In June 2019 Iran surprised the world by shooting down a US drone in the Persian Gulf to which there was no US military response.

6-      In late December 2019 IRI conducted military exercises with Russia and China in the Gulf of Oman.

7-      On January 3, 2020 the US assassinated General Soleimani, an act condemned around the world. Following that action, Iran labeled the Pentagon a terrorist organization and US a terrorist state.

8-      The most important strategic achievement of Iran was its response to that killing, shooting 22 missiles into two US military bases in Iraq, again without a US response.

9-      Iran developed a policy of changing US assets into liabilities; also showed that the sole purpose of US weapons has been to increase corporate profit, not for defense.

10-   The US attempts to force Iraqi’s PM to resign, by suggesting he and his defense minister could be killed, failed when the PM refused and made it public, exposing the US as terrorist

Iranians have been gradually uniting as the government counters US provocations, sanctions, sustained hostility, aggression, and existential threats against them. Recently, they have been more critical of the US. There is general support to major strategic achievements including defeating ISIS in Syria and Iraq, and their strategic alliances with the emerging world powers of China and Russia.

Most importantly, the regime has prevented US from invading Iran, made history and changed the world balance of power against US aggression, hopefully moving toward a more peaceful and safer world.