Iran's top paramilitary commander warns civilians against unrest, threatens crackdown

Iran’s top paramilitary commander, Major General Hossein Salami, on Sunday warned the protesters against resorting to anti-regime demonstrations as he visited the restive province in eastern Iran. The Iranian military has been at the forefront to stifle the two months long protests against the repressive laws for women under the hardline fundamentalist cleric regime. Salami, the commander in chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, on Sunday travelled to Sistan-Baluchistan’s capital of Zahedan, where he derided the Mahsa Amini protesters, and hailed the Baloch minority who live there for their “chivalry, zeal, love, loyalty and sacrifice,” Fars news agency reported. 

Major General Hossein Salami warns of more crackdowns

Major General Hossein Salami threatened the protesting civilians with the consequences as he warned of more crackdowns. He alleged that those behind the unrest in the country were manipulated by foreign powers. “We will definitely turn this huge sedition scene, and this world war into a burial ground for the policies of America, Israel, and its allies,” the IRGC commander was quoted as saying by the Iranian state news agency. As many as 440 people that includes 60 children have lost lives since the protests against the regime's laws erupted and demonstrators have valiantly clashed with the country's security forces on the streets.

As he rebuked the West for fuelling the violence and upheaval to allegedly weaken the Islamic Republic, Maj. Gen. Salami offered a reconciliatory tone for the Iranians, saying that those who are victims of the West's propaganda and are being deceived  "will return to the lap of the nation and become part of their people." 

Iranian envoy last week defended the proliferating violence and crackdown against the anti-hijab protesters in a defiant tone as it blamed the West for "stoking" unrest within the Central Asian nation. Khadijeh Karimi, deputy of Iran’s vice president for Women and Family Affairs, slammed the Western nations, saying that the unrest in Iran was “politically motivated" and that the UN resolution was a "political move of Germany to distort the situation of human rights in Iran.”

UN human rights chief called on the Iranian regime's violent and repressive measures against the demonstrating Iranians as "unacceptable." UN also called for setting up an independent fact-finding mission to investigate alleged Iranian abuses, mainly committed against women and children. A resolution was brought by Germany and Iceland to hold Iran accountable for the human rights violations and violence against the protesters. It was backed by 25 countries, including the United States and many European, Latin American, Asian and African nations. China, India, Pakistan, Cuba, Eritrea, Venezuela, Armenia, and 15 others abstained from the vote.