The head of the Iranian army has pointed the finger at the USA and Israel and said that the country’s Armed Forces will not allow any foreign interference or aggression against the Islamic Republic.
Iranian Army Commander Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi made the comments while talking during a military ceremony on Sunday, 9th October.
While voicing his support for the regime’s various security forces, he reportedly linked the protests to the United States and to Israel and said: “The day will come when these scores are settled all at once, and you dear youths will see that day with your own eyes.”
He also reportedly said: “Our enemies cannot tolerate the progress of this nation and the solidarity between the nation and the Armed Forces
“One of their main goals is to undermine security […] and finally weaken the defensive power of the country.”
Mousavi also said that the country’s enemies were using hybrid warfare to weaken Iran’s defences, adding: “Their most important strategy is to spread despair, shatter the steadfastness of the great Iranian nation, and undermine security of Iran in order to disrupt its independence and progress. They seek to deprive this nation of security and hope, and destroy its resistance.”
He then pointed the finger at the “criminal US” and the “infanticide Zionist regime”, saying that “the day will come when these scores are settled all at once, and you dear youths will see that day with your own eyes.”
Protests erupted in Iran after the death of Mahsa Amini.
Mahsa, 22, was declared brain dead and died in hospital three days after apparently being beaten by Iran’s morality police.
She had been detained for what was described as a ‘re-education class’ after she was arrested next to a metro station in Tehran for failing to adhere to Iran’s strict hijab rules on 13th September.
Hours later she was in hospital with a skull fracture “caused by a direct blow” and internal bleeding, according to hacked CT scans obtained by a London-based news organisation known as Iran International.
Tehran officials reportedly at first said that Mahsa died of a heart attack and went on to say that she suffered from epilepsy, a claim that her father has denied.
All women, including tourists, have had to wear a headscarf in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Mahsa’s death caused outrage around the world and sparked protests in Iran, with the country shutting down parts of the internet in a bid to disrupt the growing protest movement.
A growing list of celebrities have voiced their support for the protests and for Mahsa.
They include former First Lady of the United States and former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Ellen DeGeneres, British Game of Thrones star Sophie Turner, American model Bella Hadid, Hollywood icon Sharon Stone, pop star Justin Bieber, Oscar-winner Jessica Chastain, Kim Kardashian, Turkish singer Melek Mosso, Penelope Cruz, Oscar-winning Iranian director Asghar Farhadi, actress Eva Mendes, and the British Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling, among others.
Anti-regime media are claiming that Mahsa’s medical records showing her history of heart disease were faked by the Iranian government.
The protests her death sparked are ongoing and, according to the non-profit Iran Human Rights, at least 185 people, including children, have been killed so far.
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Story By: Joseph Golder, Sub-Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency: Newsflash
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