Iran deploys IRGC as widespread protests continue
Middle East Eye :
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said that safeguarding national security was a “red line”, as the most widespread protests in years continued overnight.
The IRGC – an elite Iranian force separate from the army – said on Saturday that it would protect the country’s security and the achievements of the 1979 Islamic revolution.
It accused “terrorists” of targeting military and law enforcement bases over the past two nights, killing citizens and security officers, as well as setting property on fire.
Meanwhile the army, which like the IRGC is also commanded by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said it would “protect and safeguard national interests, the country’s strategic infrastructure and public property”.
Protests spread across Iran two weeks ago. It began in response to rising inflation, but soon turned political, with some demonstrators calling for the end of the Islamic Republic.
Overnight, state media said that a municipal building was set fire in Karaj, west of Tehran.
Iranian authorities appear to have shut down the internet for over a day, according to an internet monitoring organisation.
“After another night of protests met with repression, metrics show the nationwide internet blackout remains in place at 36 hours,” Netblocks said on X on Saturday morning.
“Experience has shown that resorting to such measures is intended to conceal the violence inflicted during the suppression of protests,” Mohammad Rasoulof and Jafar Panahi said on the Instagram account of Panahi, who won the top prize at last year’s Cannes Film Festival.
In interviews with Middle East Eye earlier this week, protesters described an economy that has become unmanageable for ordinary households.
“In just a few days, prices have multiplied. How can it be this disastrous? How can prices rise this much?” said Mani, a 27-year-old from Mashhad who joined the demonstrations. “If this country had responsible rulers, things would not be like this.”
“Every time we get tired of this situation and come out to the streets, we are suddenly called Israelis or CIA agents,” she added.
Mehdi, 31, from Falavarjan in Isfahan province, said he joined demonstrations after hearing comments by senior officials.
“We are exhausted,” he said. “Our lives and our youth have been wasted under the Islamic Republic. Now they threaten us. What do we really have left to lose?”
Trump issues threat
Hrana, an Iranian rights organisation, said that as of Friday, it had documented at least 65 deaths. That included 50 protesters and 15 security personnel.
State television broadcast footage of funerals of security officers it said were killed in the cities of Hamedan, Qom and Shiraz.
The IRGC public relations office said three members of the Basij security force were killed and five wounded during confrontations with “armed rioters” in Gachsaran, in southwestern Iran.
Another security officer was stabbed to death in Hamedan, in western Iran, Reuters reported.
The son of a senior officer, Nourali Shoushtari, was also killed in the Ahmadabad area of Mashhad, in the northeast.
Meanwhile, two other security personnel were killed over the past two nights in Shushtar, in Khuzestan province.
On Friday, Khamenei accused protesters of acting on behalf of US President Donald Trump, warning that authorities would not tolerate people acting as “mercenaries for foreigners”.
Trump hinted at intervention if security forces violently crack down on the protesters.
“You better not start shooting because we’ll start shooting too,” he said on Friday. “I just hope the protesters in Iran are going to be safe, because that’s a very dangerous place right now.”
Meanwhile, Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, said: “The United States supports the brave people of Iran.”
Leaders in Germany, France and the UK issued a joint statement condemning the killing of protesters and urging Tehran to refrain from violence.
The unrest marks the largest protests in Iran since the “Woman Life Freedom” protests in 2022.