Interior Minister: Protests Were Resolved with Maximum Restraint and in the Best Possible Manner

While at least 22 people were killed in the recent street protests in Iran, the Interior Minister claims that these protests were resolved "with maximum restraint" and "in the best possible manner." Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli made this claim on Thursday, January 4, during the introduction ceremony of the new governor of Semnan, stating that "the main issue was that a protest occurred and the system exerted all its efforts to manage and resolve these protests with minimal costs, maximum restraint, and in the best possible way." He mentioned that he refrains from using "economic" grounds as reasons for these events and added that "some enemies thought something had happened recently" and that "the people of Iran are hungry and thirsty for freedom." This was a reference to comments made by U.S. President Donald Trump, who in one of his many supportive statements regarding the protests in Iran said, "The great people of Iran have been suppressed for years. They are hungry for food and freedom." Trump also added that "besides human rights, Iran's wealth has been plundered. The time for change has come." Nevertheless, the Iranian Interior Minister claimed that the people of Iran were fully quenched from the "spring of freedom in the 1979 Revolution" and that "it is the enemies of Iran who have placed the Statue of Liberty as a false symbol on the minarets." He stated that the events occurring in Iran happen everywhere in the world, including the U.S. and Europe, and added that "if these events continue, it will be due to the restraint, tolerance, and interaction of the government and military and law enforcement agencies with the people." Mr. Rahmani Fazli also praised what he called "spontaneous marches of the people in support of the system," stating that "I ordered that this presence should not be guided by official directives from government and executive agencies; the people showed up themselves." The Interior Minister also said that "the spontaneous movement of the people in response to the unrest will certainly continue today, tomorrow, and in the coming days." In the past week, despite the widespread presence of security forces, the suppression of protests from the first days, and severe restrictions on the internet and messaging networks, multiple demonstrations were held in over 90 cities in Iran, and despite warnings from security and law enforcement officials, the protests continued. In contrast, from Wednesday, some cities in Iran witnessed government gatherings and marches. On Wednesday, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced that what he described as the "sedition of 1996" has ended and that the military security forces under his command have only acted in three provinces: Isfahan, Lorestan, and Hamadan, which reported the highest casualties. On Thursday, the Iranian Interior Minister claimed that "with the authority of the security, law enforcement, judicial, and media forces, and all sections involved in the administration of the country, the issue was resolved in the county security councils" and added that these events "were not at all brought to the Supreme National Security Council." According to the Interior Minister, the people of Iran learned a "scientific and practical lesson" from these events that they should "not trust networks and media that do not care for the people's welfare." While the Interior Minister spoke of the spontaneous nature of the marches in support of the Islamic Republic, it is noted that no spontaneous marches are allowed in Iran, and various cities only witness government and official marches. After the start of street protests in Iran, which initially began with the slogan "No to Inflation" and quickly escalated to political demands, all official figures in the country, including the Supreme Leader, the President, and his deputies and ministers, attributed these unrests to the "enemy." Meanwhile, a few political figures and some social media users and artists have called for permits for gatherings for dissenters to express their demands. The Revolutionary Guards also stated that they only intervened in the recent protests in Isfahan, Hamadan, and Lorestan to control the situation and confront the protesters. Mohammad Ali Jafari referred to these protests as the "sedition of 1996" and stated that "the largest urban gathering in this sedition was a gathering of 1,500 people, and at the peak of the unrest across the country, about 15,000 people participated." While the commander of the Revolutionary Guards reported limited intervention in controlling protests in over 50 cities in Iran, the highest number of casualties during this period occurred in the towns of Qahderijan and Najafabad in Isfahan province and Toyserkan in Hamadan province, where the Guards intervened.