In a recent meeting with the commanders of the army air force, Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, said: “The enemy front against Iran has launched a combined attack, i.e. economic, political, security, media and diplomatic attacks.” He called on the authorities not to take a “defensive stance” against the attack and to launch a combined “offensive” in various fields, including the media, security issues, and the economy. What is Khamenei so afraid of and why now?
Regime’s fragile state
In the past few months, we have witnessed the leakage of information and videos from Iranian prisons following the hacking of prison cameras, and the distribution and publicizing of classified documents and confidential letters from government and security officials in the media and social media platforms. At the pinnacle of such infiltrations stands the attack on “more than 600 TV and radio servers” which went offline while some were completely destroyed according to sources providing reports from inside Iran’s TV and radio networks. “Footage related to the MEK were suddenly aired at 3:00 pm local time on 14 TV and 13 radio stations” on February 7, according to reports from inside the regime. According to the MEK, the damage has been so severe that several of these hacked media outlets have not yet been reinstated.
On Thursday, February 10, the citizens of Shahr-e Rey (south of Tehran), and Sarasiab and Fardis districts of Karaj, a major city located west of Tehran, heard anti-regime slogans, including, “death to Khamenei” in reference to regime Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and “viva Rajavi”, referring to the Iranian Resistance leader Mr. Massoud Rajavi and opposition coalition NCRI President-elect Mrs. Maryam Rajavi. In the Sarasiab district of Karaj, segments of a speech delivered by Mrs. Rajavi regarding the overthrow of the mullahs’ regime and a speech delivered by Mr. Rajavi about the “heroic Iranian people overthrowing the regime” were broadcasted repeatedly. The above took place as the Iranian regime was celebrating the 43rd anniversary of the 1979 anti-monarchy revolution which brought the mullahs to power.
Social media video shows that the sound system of a branch of the Saderat Bank in Shahriar, Tehran was hacked to broadcast anti-Khamenei and ant-Raisi slogans and slogans in support of the MEK/ PMOI.
"Raisi is the executioner of the 1988 massacre!"
"Down with Khamenei!" pic.twitter.com/LUcjUvudmi— Iran News Wire (@IranNW) February 11, 2022
Earlier, gas stations across Iran experienced widespread disruptions on a government system managing fuel subsidies, in what state television said was a cyberattack. State TV quoted an official with Iran’s National Security Council confirming the October 26 attack on the gasoline-distribution computer system amid reports of long lines at stations, many of which were closed.
Looking beyond Iran’s borders, on February 2021, Assadolah Assadi, an Iranian diplomat, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for attempting to bomb an Iranian opposition rally in France. The court ruled that Assadi and three others sought to kill top leaders of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) during a rally near Paris. At present, a court in Sweden is listening to the testimonies of witnesses against Hamid Nouri, another regime’s affiliate, instrumental in the killing of more than 30,000 political prisoners in the summer of 1988. In its second session in London, the Aban People’s Tribunal accused 160 of Iran’s officials, including Ali Khamenei, of crimes against humanity because of their role in the killing of more than 1,500 protestors in the nationwide demonstrations in November 2019.
Now that the Islamic Republic is busy celebrating its 43rd inception, confusion, illusions, and panic pervade through all elements of the government. On the one hand, they are cozying up with Russia and China, and on the other hand, they are trying to find ways to satisfy the Western powers so that they can stay in power for only a bit longer.
But let’s take a look at the 43-year achievements of the Iranian regime:
The regime’s execution machine started the day after the revolution and has continued to the present. At least 120,000 dissidents have been executed, including more than 30,00 political prisoners in the summer of 1988.
The closure of all universities for two years at the beginning of the revolution, under the pretext of the “Cultural Revolution,” resulted in the expulsion of hundreds of top professors and elites.
The resumption of the futile 8-year Ira-Iraq war that was initiated by the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ruhollah Khomeini.
The free fall devaluation of Iran’s currency against the US dollar.
The assassination of political opponents, both inside Iran and beyond its borders.
Rampant poverty, prostitution, unemployment, child labor, widespread government corruption, self-immolations out of poverty, children’s malnutrition, nepotism, the death of more than 500,000 people due to the regime’s mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic Iran and a ban on US and UK made vaccines by Khamenei, to name only a few.
The ongoing war between the people and the regime is real
Today, more than ever, there is an ongoing battle between the people of Iran and the regime of the mullahs. Protesting workers in many cities have virtually challenged the government and, in some cases, have forced security forces to retreat. “Death to Khamenei” and other anti-regime slogans that were taboo before can now be heard in nationwide anti-government protests across Iran, with no fear and reservation. It seems that fear has changed sides, and instead of people being fearful of the regime’s intimidation and harassment, the regime is fearful of the people’s rage and anger more than ever.
The regime’s fear is not only from political activists but also from ordinary citizens, workers, teachers, nurses, professors,… and even prisoners. The killing of renowned Iranian writer and poet Baktash Abtin and many like him has not only silenced Iranians but has become a nightmare for the regime. The balance of power between the regime and the people, since the nationwide protests of November 2019 has turned around, and the countdown to the fall of the regime has started. All the efforts of the regime in these few years to get through its countless crisis have not only failed, but every day the foundations of the regime have become weaker, and the chaos within the system has become more obvious and widespread. As a result, the regime has started repressing the people more than before.
Considering the volatile state of Iran’s discontented and dissatisfied society and the fragile state of his regime, Khamenei has a right to be afraid. Sooner or later he will hear the “voice of the people’s revolution” like the Shah did 43 years ago and a similar if not worst fate awaits him.
Source » irannewswire