Jannati: Criticism of the Revolutionary Guard is 'Implementing U.S. Policies'

Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, chairman of the Assembly of Experts and secretary of the Guardian Council, described criticisms of the Revolutionary Guard as 'implementing U.S. policies' regarding this military institution. According to ISNA news agency, he stated on Thursday, July 27, during a meeting with members of the Assembly's leadership and commissions that the Revolutionary Guard should not be 'attacked in the name of being gunmen' and 'implement U.S. policies.' Jannati added: 'They want to go to war with the leadership, but since they cannot confront the leadership, they mention the name of the Guard.' These remarks from the chairman of the Assembly of Experts and secretary of the Guardian Council came at a time when Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, had implicitly criticized the activities of the Revolutionary Guard on July 1, stating that part of Iran's economy has been handed over to a 'government' that 'has both guns and media' and 'no one dares to compete with them.' Mohammad Ali Jafari, the commander of the Revolutionary Guard, called these remarks 'unfair' and said that if the government is 'without guns,' it will be 'humiliated and surrendered' by enemies. Several other commanders of the Revolutionary Guard and close associates of the Supreme Leader also criticized these remarks, and the spokesperson for the judiciary predicted that 'a new sedition is ahead' in reference to the 'destruction' against the Guard, Basij, and judiciary. Meanwhile, on Tuesday, July 24, Hassan Rouhani met with the commander-in-chief and four senior commanders of the Revolutionary Guard, but the Iranian presidential office only published a brief news report about this meeting without mentioning the details of the discussions. Gholamhossein Ghaibparvar, commander of the Basij, stated that this meeting was not 'protest-related' and was held in a 'friendly' atmosphere. On the other hand, Rouhani praised the Revolutionary Guard and other military and security forces of the Islamic Republic as 'deterrent forces' and pledged to strengthen 'all defensive weapons' of the Islamic Republic 'regardless of others' opinions.' According to ISNA, Ahmad Jannati also said that 'the enemy wants us to say that this regime has had nothing but executions for 38 years.' He added: 'The issue of overthrowing is not something that is raised at one point and then forgotten. The enemy seeks to overthrow the regime and wants to start this from within.' Hassan Rouhani stated on Tuesday, May 8, in Hamadan during the presidential election that 'the people of Iran declare that they do not accept those who have only known executions and prisons for 38 years.' Ebrahim Raisi, a candidate in this year's presidential election, was among several members of the decision-making committee regarding the execution of political prisoners in 1988. Mostafa Pourmohammadi, the Minister of Justice in Rouhani's government, was also among the other members of the decision-making committee regarding the execution of political prisoners in 1988. According to a leaked audio file from a meeting of this committee's members with Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, the then-deputy leader of the Islamic Republic, the actions of this committee are described as 'crimes.' Ebrahim Raisi was a member of the decision-making committee for the executions of the 1980s as the then-deputy prosecutor. Rouhani's remarks during his election campaign prompted reactions from judicial officials, including Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, the Attorney General, who said on July 1: 'If it is said that what have you done in these 37 years other than killing and imprisoning? We say the judiciary's job is to deal with crime. If there had been no judiciary's actions in the 1980s, the roots of hypocrisy would not have been eradicated.' The executions of the 1980s in Iran have drawn widespread criticism from human rights organizations that have called for the prosecution of those responsible for these executions. These requests have been met with indifference from Iranian officials.