LATEST: Iran Fires Mortars Into Pakistan After Deadly Shooting Between Iranian and Pakistani Forces
More than five years after the disputed 2009 Presidential election and protests by millions of its people, Iran’s regime is still warning of the threat of “sedition”.
Tehran Friday Prayer Leader Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami (pictured) issued the latest call:
In truth, the sedition of 2009 stood against the republicanism of our system of governance….I get the sense that some people want to downplay the significance of the sedition, and wipe away [their crimes], but our Supreme Leader says the sedition is our redline.
Khatami cited the threat of “fitna” on occasions like the Ashura religious holiday in December 2009, when large demonstrations challenged Iranian security forces:
This discord is an old wound in the history of the Islamic Republic, on the one hand you have the hypocrites, monarchists, and dancers, and on the other you have the people and the government.
However, the cleric’s warning is as much about contemporary politics as about a settling of historical scores.
Hardliners are showing concern about the rise of former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, the mentor of current successor Hassan Rouhani, with both sides trading accusations of past betrayals in episodes such as the 1979 Revolution against the Shah and the 1980s Iran-Iraq War.
That “sedition” is not just in the political arena. Mashhad Friday Prayer Leader Ayatollah Ahmad Alamalhoda saw a menace in the cultural arena: “Allowing female solo vocalists to perform is in the interests of the enemies of Islam and enemies of our system of governance.”
Iran Fires Mortars Into Pakistan After Deadly Shooting Between Iranian and Pakistani Forces
Iranian border guards on Saturday fired three mortar shells near the Pakistani border town of Mashkail.
“The mortar shell attack caused panic among the people,” a Pakistan security official said, but added that there were no casualties in the sparsely-populated area of Baluchestan.
The shelling came hours after two Iranian border guards and a junior Pakistan officer was killed in a shootout in the Kech district of Baluchestan.
Four Pakistan personnel were injured.
Tehran has demanded that Pakistan do something about “terrorists” in the border area after a series of incidents with Sunni insurgents, including last week’s killing of four Iranian border guards. Four Iranian police officials, including a senior commander, died in a plane crash en route to investigate the deaths.
Iran Pressures Saudi Arabia Over Death Sentence of Dissident Shia Cleric
Iranian media highlight the warning of the Tehran Friday Prayer to Saudi Arabia over Wednesday’s death sentence against Sheikh Nimr Baqr al-Nimr.
Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami declared“His execution will be followed by heavy costs and bad consequences for you.”
Khatami added that human rights officials, who criticize Iran for death sentence on murderers, have been silent about al-Nimr’s death penalty — “a kind of human rights desirable to the US”.
Al-Nimr, the prominent imam of a mosque in Eastern Province, was shot by security forces and detained in July 2012 amid demonstrations in the mainly-Shia province for rights and reforms. He was convicted “seeking foreign meddling”, “disobeying Saudi rulers”, and “taking up arms against the security forces”.
Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said on Wednesday that the sentence would “undoubtedly inflame the sentiments of Muslims and…trigger an international reaction”: “It is expected that the relevant Saudi officials will prevent the implementation of such a verdict…[and halt the] intensification of tension in the Islamic world.”
Iran’s criticism of the death sentence is part of a wider escalation in tensions between Tehran and Riyadh over the past week, fuelled by Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud’s declaration that the Islamic Republic has created regional problems and demand that the Iranians withdraw troops from Syria, Iraq, and Yemen.
Khatami responded on Friday by repeating that the Saudis fostered the Islamic State: “Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister says Iran is part of the problem not the solution. That’s strange; everyone knows that the IS group was created with your petrodollars.”
He concluded, “The reality is that you are not only part of the problem, you are the entire problem.”
The hardline daily Kayhan piled on the criticism: Prince Saud’s challenge to Iran could only be the result of “a combination of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease”.
Iran Military: US “Fight Against Islamic State” Is Plot to Destroy Syrian Infrastructure
The deputy head of Iran’s armed forces, General Massoud Jazayeri has uncovered a devious plot by the US against the Assad regime:
In the past America has used the Islamic State, and is now using the fight against the Islamic State, as a means of destroying the infrastructure of Syria.
Over the past three years America has used the largest flow of terrorism against the government [of Syria] and has excluded all powers in the region, but the biggest strength of the Syrian people and government is they can prevent the evil goals of America and its partners.
