Iran’s 83-uyear-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei showed why he’s so despised in Iran, praising the Basij militia for saving the Islamic Revolution from street protesters. Street protests erupted across Iran Sept. 16 when 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini was beaten to death by the Basij militia for not wearing her headscarf properly. Since Amini’s killing, Iranian women have taken to the streets to protest brutal Mullah rule where women have no rights, forced to conform to Shiite cleric’s strict dress code and bans on Western music, fashion and culture. Ayatollah praising the Basij, the so-called morality police, threw more gasoline on the fire, triggering more street protests around Iran. Given complete license by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps, the Basij resembles the Nazi’s Gestapo, where the unofficial militia helped maintain allegiance to the Nazi Party.
Khaemeni praising the Basij is precisely the tone deafness of Iran’s Mullah regime that values oppressive control over the people more anything resembling spirituality or adherence of Sharia law. “They have sacrificed their lives to protect the people from rioters . . . the presence of Basij show that the Islamic Revolution is alive,” Khamenei said in a televised speech. Knowing the Mahsa hailed from Kurdistan in Southeastern Iran, Khamenei sent in the Revolutionary Guards to suppress whatever protests brewed in the Kurdish region. Iran’s Mullah regime has zero sympathy for Kurds, considered a hostile group by the Mullah government. Iran thinks no differently of the Kurds than the Turks, who consider Kurds mortal enemies of the Ankara government. Groups like the PKK [Kurdistan Workers Party] are considered a dangerous terrorist group by Turkish authorities.
Whatever Khamenei thinks of the Basij militia, he knows that there are currently nationwide street protests of Mahsa Amini’s Sept 16 bludgeoning death, still a raw topic to Iranian women. For Khamenei to praise the Basij publicly shows that the Mullah government has no intent of changing anything, certainly not pushing the Supreme leader from power. Thousands of street protesters have disappeared or been liquidated by the Basij and Revolutionary Guards. When former President Donald Trump was given a chance Jan. 3, 2020 to take out the late Al Qud’s leader Qasem Soleimani, he didn’t hesitate. Iran’s Al Quds Revolutionary Guards were routinely blowing up freighters in the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman. Khamenei’s great love of Soleimani and the Revolutionary Guards directly related to the use of murder and terror on Iran’s citizens and foreign governments.
Democrats and the press don’t like to admit that when Trump cancelled the Iranian Nuke Deal May 8, 2018, Iran was in a proxy war against U.S. ally Saudi Arabia. Iran routinely pays-and-furnishes Yemen’s Houthi rebels with rockets, ballistic missiles and drones to battle the Kingdom. Iran was going after Saudi Arabia’s Aramco oil refineries, potentially causing disruptions in refined oil products on the world stage. So when it comes to Iran Basij militia, it’s another integral part of the Ayatollah’s brutal crackdown on Iranian citizens. More protests broke out today at several universities after 140 doctors joined the protests saying the Basij were blinding protesters with birdshot and other weapons. To the Ayatollah and the Basij there’s no punishment too great for protesters daring to disobey Ayatollah’s Mullah regime, leaving street protesters in pitched battles with the Basij.
Protests are the World Cup with Iran’s football team already noted by the Basij militia and Ayatollah. At Iran’s loss to England last week, many to the players refused to sing Iranian patriotic songs. Turns out one of the players who was excluded from the Qatar Team Voria Gafouri was arrested for protesting the Ayatollah’s treatment of Iran’s Kurdish population in the Southwest. Activist news agency HRANA said Friday that 448 street porters had been killed, with another 18,170 arrested, no longer accessible to legal protections. Iran’s judiciary has worked in over drive handing out death sentences to protesters like cotton candy. Khamenei didn’t hesitate to publicly praise Iran’s Qatar World Cup team for beating Wales on Nov. 25. “Yesterday Team Meli [the National Team] made our people happy. May God make them happy,” Khamenei said in a bizarre disconnect.
Aytatollah’s crackdown using the Basij militia to suppress all unrest around the country shows his unwillingness to modify Iran’s strict women’s dress code and other civil rights. Khamenei has no problems praising the glorious victory on the soccer field, at the same time, turning the Basij on street protesters trying to fight for some kind of dignity. President Joe Biden, 80, sends the exact wrong message to the Ayatollah that he’s willing to reinstate the Iranian Nuke Deal, when the White House watches the Ayatollah crackdown on peaceful street protests after Amini’s death and the Mullah government’s treatment of women. Biden has wrecked U.S.-Russian and U.S.-Chinese relations over violations of human rights. But Biden’s ready to cut a new nuke deal with Iran to help his sagging approval ratings. When the U.S. plays Iran next week, it will only highlight the Ayatollah’s brutal crackdown.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
