Iran's Deputy Interior Minister Identifies 'Three Factors' Behind Recent Protests

The Deputy Security and Police Minister of Iran identified 'foreign enemies' activities, 'declining public trust', and 'increased demands and expectations of the people due to political competition' as the 'three factors' that led to last month's protests. He reported that 84% of the protesters were under 35 years old. On Tuesday, January 23, Hossein Zolfaqari shared parts of the Interior Ministry's report on the protests with reporters, which had been submitted to the Iranian President. According to the report, 59% of participants had education below diploma level, 26% were 'unknown', 14% held a bachelor's degree, and 1% had higher degrees. Zolfaqari stated that 84% of the protesters were under 35 and 'had no security records'. The statistics provided by the Deputy Minister of Interior may relate to those arrested during the recent protests. Previously, Zolfaqari had announced that over 90% of those arrested in last month's protests were under 25 years old, and other officials had mentioned that students or younger individuals participated in these gatherings. The Deputy Security Minister also introduced the 'three factors' behind these gatherings based on the ministry's report. According to Zolfaqari, 'the continuation of foreign enemies' activities, including the U.S. and its regional proxies and opposition groups', 'declining public trust due to various reasons including the inefficiency of organizations and institutions in responding to the current societal conditions and dissatisfaction stemming from conflicts and certain weaknesses', and 'mismanagement of public opinion and increased demands and expectations in both electoral and political competitions without regard to the country's resources and capabilities, resulting in the accumulation of unmet expectations and dissatisfaction' were the three factors behind these gatherings. Several members of the Expediency Discernment Council of Iran, including Gholamreza Mesbahi Moghadam, had previously stated that a report from the Supreme National Security Council claimed that the recent protests in Iran were organized in meetings in Herat, Afghanistan, and Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan. Mohsen Rezai, the Secretary of the Expediency Discernment Council, also referred to this report, stating: 'A few months ago, the head of the CIA's special operations desk in Erbil, Iraq, met with the office head of Saddam's son and Hani Talafah, Saddam's brother-in-law, as well as a representative from Saudi Arabia, Barzani's group, and the Mojahedin [People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran] to plan these events.' These statements prompted reactions from Kurdish officials, who described them as 'comedic', and among political activists and Iranian social media users, dragging Saddam Hussein's brother-in-law into the matter was deemed a joke. Nevertheless, Iranian officials, including the Supreme Leader and the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, have repeatedly attributed foreign factors, including Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the U.S., to the recent protests in the country, which began in Mashhad in response to Iran's economic conditions and quickly spread throughout the country. The Deputy Security Minister stated that 37% of the calls for protests in 1996 were about economic issues, of which 74% were in protest against the performance of unauthorized financial and credit institutions. Attributing these protests to foreign factors has led to significant negative reactions, to the extent that even some reformist factions, which had called for confronting these protests, deemed the focus on foreign factors as 'an insult to society'. Mahmoud Sadeghi, a member of parliament, tweeted that 'according to intelligence officials, no foreign agent has been involved in the recent unrest so far.' Additionally, the Israeli Prime Minister called the attribution of recent protests to his country ridiculous, and the head of the CIA also denied any involvement of the agency in Iran's protests, emphasizing that the Iranian people are dissatisfied with economic conditions and have distanced themselves from the clergy. The Deputy Security Minister also announced that 37% of the calls for protests in 1996 were about economic issues, with 74% of those calls protesting the performance of unauthorized financial and credit institutions. According to Zolfaqari, despite allocating 11 trillion tomans from the national treasury to compensate for the losses of depositors in these institutions and paying about 90% of the depositors' funds, 'there was no proper communication from the officials in this regard.' Before last month's protests, a number of depositors from financial and credit institutions had repeatedly gathered in several cities in Iran. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani stated in parliament on December 19 that '25% of the country's monetary market was in the hands of six fraudulent cooperatives', and they 'decided on profits whenever they wanted and disrupted the currency, gold, and real estate markets as they pleased.' He emphasized that dealing with these financial institutions was very 'difficult', adding that 'everyone was putting pressure on us, and we received letters from all organizations. Strange people were making requests.' Previously, Ahmad Tavakoli, a member of the ninth parliament, threatened to reveal the names of those receiving loans from the bankrupt financial institution 'Samen al-Hojaj', stating that most of these individuals were experienced judges and children of prominent clerics and political figures. Meanwhile, Hessameddin Ashna, an advisor to the Iranian President, tweeted that 'behind each of these institutions and funds was so strong that it was impossible to confront them until their actions led to a scandal... When their situation deteriorated, the government was forced to pay off debts from the people's pockets.' He wrote that 'the head of one of these funds might have entered the central bank with a weapon and threatened.' Ashna emphasized that Hassan Rouhani 'is paying the price for the relentless fight against usurers with prayer beads and calluses on his forehead.' The Deputy Minister of Interior also announced without detailing that the investigation of 'the role and share of various currents in the calls that led to protests in different regions of the country' and 'regions with the most and least protest movements' was among other sections of the report prepared by the Ministry of Interior. Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, the Minister of Interior of Iran, announced on January 21 that the report from his ministry regarding the recent protests had been submitted to the Iranian President.