Two Questions About the Islamic Republic's Interior Ministry Plan to Massacre Cats in Tehran - 2002-09-19

The Iranian Animal Rights Association wrote a letter dated September 23 to Mr. Ebrahim Rezaei Babadi, the Deputy for Political and Security Affairs, stating (as quoted by the Goya news site which published a photocopy of the letter verbatim): "... Why do officials always resort to the most violent and bloody methods to confront problems, far from the compassionate and merciful commands of Islam, while there are more reasonable and scientific solutions to these issues? ... We ask you to spend your precious time on more important issues facing the country. It does not seem that the security problem of the people, part of the news reflected in the press that breaks every human heart, can be solved by killing cats...!!" This is not the first time the Islamic Republic has chosen the solution of massacre to address problems. A few years ago, in the city of Qom, thirty thousand pigeons were slaughtered, which was widely reported in the world press. However, the part of the letter from the Animal Rights Association raises questions for us, stating: "On the one hand, the people of Iran and the world recognize the cat as a special animal and consider its killing ominous. We must point out that for this reason, no one will be willing to assist you in implementing this plan, and you may have to use non-native forces in this plan, just as foreign forces have been used for some other controls." - Does the mention of foreign forces for "other controls" refer to controlling other animals or controlling people? - Which foreign forces are involved in control operations in the Islamic Republic?