Iran Protests: Iran Will Continue Its Crackdown, Unlikely To Yield Any Ground

The young protesters in Iran have shown great courage and they remain unfazed by either bullets or sticks or prison sentences

Iran’s clerical regime headed by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been shaken by the spontaneous country-wide protests sparked by the death of Masha Amini on September 16. While the state is accustomed to facing a hostile international environment, domestic defiance is rare since the Islamic Revolution of 1979. The authorities have predictably dubbed the anger in the streets as a “foreign” conspiracy fueled by the United States and West and has come down heavily on the protesters.

The latest volley against the Iranian regime is from Khamenei Khamenei’s niece Farideh Moradkhani. She dubbed her uncle’s regime as a “murderous and child-killing regime” in a video uploaded by her brother on the internet.

“Free people, be with us! Tell your governments to stop supporting this murderous and child-killing regime,” said Moradkhani. She has since been arrested. This is not the first time that she was arrested, as her branch of the family has always been opposed to the clerical regime of Khamenei. Moradkhani is the daughter of Khamenei’s sister Badri, who fell out with her family in the 1980s. 

“This regime is not loyal to any of its religious principles and does not know any law or rule except force and maintaining its power in any way possible,” the video went on to say.

Condemnation by the international community hardly matters to the Iranian regime. It remains strong and will continue to kill and brutalise protesters. Eight people have already been handed the death sentence though the public trial promised has not begun.

Desperate people are looking at the international community for help. But there is little that the United States and other countries can do at the moment. Iran is a closed country and has learned to live with crippling sanctions for decades. There is hardly anything else that can come under sanctions.

The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has been calling for independent investigations against the killing of peaceful protesters. But the UNHRC cannot send a team to Tehran without the consent of the authorities. The United States, European Union, United Kingdom, and human rights groups across the world have condemned Iran. But that will make no difference to Tehran which is long used to being chastised by the West.   

Iran has not yet reached the tipping edge and, for now, more brutal attacks against protesters are on the cards. The regime sees all acts of dissent as attack on the Islamic Revolution. More blood and tears are on the cards for Iran.