LATEST: Public Dispute Over Involvement of Revolutionary Guards in Syria

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Syria Special: Updated — Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, Assad’s Militia, & A Dead Commander & Filmmaker

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SUMMARY: As the Islamic Republic marks the 34th anniversary of the 1979 takeover of the US embassy in Tehran, Aban 13, large-scale anti-American rallies are taking place in Tehran.

AFP journalist Mohammad Davari reports that former presidential candidate Saeed Jalili has re-emerged as one of today’s key speakers commemorating the Embassy takeover. Davari notes that “Several 1000s, mostly school students” are at the rally in Tehran.

Jalili used Twitter to put out a rather tangled explanation of “Death to America”:

Jalili was preceded by a pop singer who took the opportunity to showcase a song entitled — without any construction of “death to the violence that gives permission to occupy countries” — “Death to America.”

Today’s anniversary comes amid ongoing discussion as to the continued relevance of the revolutionary “Death to America” slogan, with a number of prominent clerics and politicians backing the chant over the weekend.

The Defence Ministry yesterday declared that “The Iranian nation will show on Aban 13 (November 4) that it has never forgotten the ‘Death to the US’ slogan as the symbol of their resistance and uncompromising.”

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Public Dispute Over Involvement of Revolutionary Guards in Syria

The death of another Revolutionary Guards commander in Syria has set off a public dispute among officials.

Javad Karimi of Parliament’s National Security Commission, referring to Iran’s involvement in the conflict, upheld “the work of our security forces in hundreds of units’.

He has been rebuked by the head of public relations for the Guards, Ramazan Sharif, who said the MP’s words were “distorted” and he should be more careful in his remarks.

Sharif said, “Iran has no battalion organization in Syria” but was only “conveying the experience of its advisors for the defense of the country”.

Mohammad Jamalizadeh,

Exalting — or Ignoring — the “Down with America” Rallies?

An interesting contrast in Iranian media’s treatment of Monday’s rallies marking the 1979 takeover of the US Embassy….

English-language Press TV has not reported on the marches after its preview this morning. Even that item left out the “Down with America” slogan, noting instead that the day marked the occupation of the “den of espionage”.

Instead, the website is headlining a far more conciliatory statement by Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on the discussions with the US and the 5+1 Powers, resuming in Geneva on Thursday: “Iran Diplomacy in Nuclear Talks on Right Path“.

Even more interesting is the treatment of Fars News, linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards. Far from exalting the rallies, Fars’ English site features a moderating statement from the head of Iran’s armed forces, General Hassan Firouzabadi:

The slogan “Death to the US” doesn’t mean death to the 99% of the US people.

When we say “Death to the US”, we mean death to those one percent who are arrogant, capitalist, and Zionist Americans.

Firouzabadi’s statement parallels that of Saeed Jalili, the hardline politician who was the featured speaker at the main march:

“Death to America” is a symbol. “Death to America” is not against the American people; it is against the 1%, a defense of the oppressed in the world, and even America.

State news agency IRNA is also ignoring the rallies in its headlines.

In contrast, Far’s Persian-language site is topped by the “anti-American” marches, denouncing the spies and featuring the “Death to America” chants.

The site also reports warmly on the speech by hardline politician and former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili.

Another Revolutionary Guards Commander Killed in Syria

Iranian authorities have said Revolutionary Guards commander Mohammad Jamalizadeh was killed in Syria after volunteering to defend a Shia shrine in Damascus.

The officials said Jamalizadeh, a veteran of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war who served in anti-smuggling units, was killed in recent days by “Wahhabi terrorists”, giving no more details.

Iranian media have previously reported the deaths of the country’s troops occurring near the Sayyida Zeinab shrine in Syria’s capital, even when they were actually slain in other parts of the country.

In August, Revolutionary Guards commander Esmail Heydari and filmmaker Hadi Baghbani, making a documentary for Guards use about their activities with Syrian militias, were killed in an insurgent ambush in Aleppo Province. Both were said to have died in terrorist attacks near Damascus.

See Syria Special: Updated — Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, Assad’s Militia, & A Dead Commander & Filmmaker

Tehran’s Lead Nuclear Negotiator Says Deal Depends on Easing of Sanctions

Seyyed Abbas Araqchi, Tehran’s lead nuclear negotiator, said on Sunday that a solution to the nuclear negotiations is dependent on the US easing sanctions against Iran.

Araqchi made his comment in response to remarks by US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman in an interview on Israeli television that Washington has “not offered any easing of the sanctions, we have not removed any of the sanctions.”

Araqchi said, “Any initiative that does not ensure the easing of sanctions is not acceptable to us.”

Elsewhere, prominent MP Alaeddin Boroujerdi and chairman of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee declared that Tehran has flourished “in spite of sanctions” and in fact it was the West that has suffered.

Boroujerdi claimed, “Through prudent management, the Islamic Republic of Iran has achieved numerous accomplishments in diverse areas of science and technology in spite of sanctions, and the countries which slapped the sanctions have suffered the most.”