Army Commander: We Would Have Joined the Police in Dealing with Protests if Necessary

The Commander of the Islamic Republic Army referred to the recent street protests in Iran as a 'petty sedition' and expressed gratitude to the police and Basij for what he called 'suffocating it in its infancy.' Abdolrahim Mousavi mentioned this in a message to Hossein Ashtari, the commander of the police, adding that 'if necessary,' the army would have accompanied these forces. The message stated that 'this blind sedition was so insignificant that it was merely suffocated with part of the police's power.' While Mousavi, like other senior officials of the Islamic Republic, attributed the recent street protests in over 50 cities in Iran to the 'enemy,' he acknowledged some 'shortcomings' within the country. He stated that the U.S. and Israel sent their 'dark-footed infantry, the criminal hypocrites, to a field they imagined was empty to exploit some shortcomings and disrupt Iran's exemplary security.' The army commander added that U.S. officials, 'far from the most basic diplomatic considerations, excitedly and openly supported the murderous rioters to once again reveal the ugly face of their deep enmity against the great nation of Iran.' He praised what he called the 'powerful and patient police force' of the Islamic Republic and the 'unassuming brothers' of the Revolutionary Guards' Basij, adding that the 'enemy's' actions in this regard were 'unsuccessful.' This military commander also wrote that 'if necessary,' the Islamic Republic Army would have stood 'shoulder to shoulder' with police officers 'against the deceived of the Great Satan.' Mr. Mousavi reiterated that the army is fully prepared to 'execute the orders' of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic 'in any assigned mission.' Prior to the Commander of the Islamic Republic Army, Mohammad Ali Jafari, the commander of the Revolutionary Guards, also referred to the recent protests in various parts of Iran as 'the 96 sedition' and added that these protests had 'failed.' Jafari stated that if it were not for 'security preparations, the intensity of this sedition would have been much broader.' He claimed that 'creating casualties was one of the main programs of the seditionists and their masters in the recent riots.' He alleged that 'they wanted to seriously and purposefully take the lives of people, whether children or adults, and blame it on the Islamic government of Iran.' These statements by the commander of the Revolutionary Guards come amid reports that at least 22 people have been killed and over a thousand have been arrested during these protests. According to Hossein Zolfaqari, the Deputy Security Minister, the average age of those arrested is under 25, and most of them are young and teenagers. Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, the Minister of the Interior of the twelfth government, also claimed that despite this number of deaths and arrests, these protests were resolved 'with minimal costs, at the highest level of tolerance, and in the best way.'