Iran’s Supreme Leader Blames ‘Enemies’ for Deadly Protests

ed note–the notion that ‘enemies’ are responsible for all this drama is obvious to the entire planet. The question that needs to be asked and answered is ‘why’ all of this drama is taking place now, and especially in such close proximity to Trump’s ‘Jerusalem’ declaration.

Readers will remember that out of all the countries on God’s green earth that it was/is the Islamic Republic of Iran ALONE who has made the official statement that Jerusalem was/is/always will be the capital of Palestine. It was/is the Islamic Republic of Iran ALONE that has made the liberation, protection & preservation of Palestine part of its national security/foreign policy posture and has not wavered from this stance in even the slightest deviation, whereas other powerful Arab countries who have sat back and watched as fellow Arab Christians and Muslims have been butchered for decades have done nothing except offer a few mealy-mouthed statements condemning Trump’s recent declaration.

Now, bringing this thing to the present, please consider one of the more prominent statements (besides their supposedly being upset over the price of eggs going up)  coming forth from the protesters currently raising hell in Iran–

‘Iranian protesters urge their government to ‘Let go of Palestine’

If there were a single statement sure to begin the process of rehabilitating the now-damaged relations between Iran and the Sunni Arab countries, then there could not be a better one. If Trump’s original Jerusalem declaration shattered any nascent ‘coalition’ which Netanyahu was seeking to create with the Sunni Arab world, then what better way to ‘seal the deal’ in pulling these Arab countries out of Judea, Inc’s orbit than in propping Iran up as the ‘protector of Palestine’.

Added to all of this is Netanyahu’s very vocal support for these same protesters who want Iran to ‘Let Go of Palestine’, which he did in complete contradiction to his high-level political/national security advisers.

Now, are we going so far as to assert that all of this was arranged by Trump, Inc ahead of time, possibly as a means of demolishing the status quo in the Middle East and shaking things up a bit in the interests of building something new?

It’s too early to make such an assertion, but one thing for sure is as follows–The odds that Trump was not made aware of what was sure to ensue (vis a vis what we are all witnessing right now) is somewhere between 0 and 0, so surmise what you will about what the intended end game goal here was in all of this.

NY Times

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Iranian supreme leader, blamed “enemies” of Iran on Tuesday for protests that have left more than 20 people dead, in his first comments since the unrest started last week.

“In recent events, enemies of Iran have allied & used the various means they possess, including money, weapons, politics & intelligence services, to trouble the Islamic Republic,” said a post in English on Ayatollah Khamenei’s Twitter account. “The enemy is always looking for an opportunity & any crevice to infiltrate & strike the Iranian nation.”

As of Tuesday morning, the death toll from the protests across the country and the ensuing crackdown by the government and security services was at least 21. About 450 people had been taken into custody in the capital, Tehran, alone, according to the semiofficial news agency ILNA, and arrests have also been reported elsewhere.

Ayatollah Khamenei, who has been a target of the protesters, did not specify which individuals or countries he was referring to, saying he would “speak to the dear people when the time is right.”

In his stream of posts on Twitter, he did, however, implicitly compare the current demonstrations to Iran’s eight-year war with Iraq in the 1980s, when the United States, its European allies and the Persian Gulf monarchies of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates backed the Baath Party government of Saddam Hussein against Tehran.

The United States, Saudi Arabia and the other Persian Gulf monarchies are all backing the rebels fighting the Iranian-backed government in Syria.

In Libya, NATO led a bombing campaign that helped remove Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi in 2011, and both the United Arab Emirates and Qatar have continued to back allied groups inside Libya in the continuing civil strife there.

“The Iranian nation will forever owe the dear martyrs, who left behind their homes and families, to stand against the wicked enemies backed by westerners, easterners, as well as reactionaries of the region,” Ayatollah Khamenei wrote, apparently in another reference to the Iran-Iraq war.

His remarks came a day after President Trump criticized Iran, saying the country’s leaders had repressed their people for years. Mr. Trump again addressed the situation there on Tuesday, in another Twitter post that appeared shortly after the supreme leader’s, in which he expressed solidarity with the Iranian people, even though he has sought to prevent them from entering the United States.

The people of Iran are finally acting against the brutal and corrupt Iranian regime. All of the money that President Obama so foolishly gave them went into terrorism and into their “pockets.” The people have little food, big inflation and no human rights. The U.S. is watching!

That drew an angry response from Iran, with Bahram Qasemi, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, describing Mr. Trump’s comments as insulting, useless and counterproductive, the state news media reported.

“It is better for him to try to address the internal issues, like the murder of scores killed on a daily basis in the United States during armed clashes and shootings, as well as millions of the homeless and hungry people in the country,” Mr. Qasemi said, according to the state-run news agency IRNA.

The protests are the largest in Iran since 2009, during the so-called Green Movement, which took place after the election of the hard-line leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and transitioned into a wider protest against the country’s leadership.

The latest demonstrations, which largely seemed to come out of nowhere and have surprised the authorities with their size and intensity, appear to be rooted in anger toward President Hassan Rouhani, who is regarded as a moderate, and his inability to bring change to an economy that has long suffered under the weight of sanctions.

As the protests have continued, however, they have taken on a political bent directed at the establishment, with demonstrators calling for the death of Mr. Rouhani and Ayatollah Khamenei.

Mr. Rouhani has tried to acknowledge the protesters’ complaints, asking them to avoid violence while saying they had a right to be heard, but others in the government have called for a firmer response.

Brig. Gen Esmaeil Kowsari, deputy chief of the main Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps base in Tehran, told the semiofficial news agency ISNA: “If this situation continues, the officials will definitely make some decisions, and at that point this business will be finished.”

Iran is battling with the Saudi-led Persian Gulf states for dominance across several unstable countries around the region.

In addition to providing military support for Damascus against Syrian rebels who receive backing from Gulf states, Tehran is providing aid to Houthis in Yemen who are fighting Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Iran has provided support for protesters and militants opposing the Saudi-backed monarchy in Bahrain, and Iran-assisted factions dominate the politics of Lebanon and Iraq against opponents Saudi Arabia backs.

In most cases, the contest for power plays out through sectarian rivalries. Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf monarchs are backing fellow Sunni Muslims in each arena, and the Shiite government of Iran is backing Shiites in Lebanon, Iraq and Bahrain, as well as allied heterodox Muslim sects like the Alawites in Syria or the Houthis in Yemen.