TEHRAN. – The commander of the Revolutionary Guard Iran’s paramilitary force, a key force in the repression of recent protests that left thousands dead, warned that its force is “more prepared than ever, with my finger on the trigger,” as US warships head towards the Middle East.
Nournews, a media outlet close to Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, reported that the commander, Mohammad Pakpour, warned Washington and Israel “to avoid any miscalculation.”
“The Islamic Revolutionary Guard and beloved Iran are more prepared than ever, with your finger on the trigger, to execute the orders and directives of the commander in chief,” Pakpour said, according to the Nournews publication.
Tension between Iran and the United States remains at a fever pitch after the bloody repression of protests which began on December 28, triggered by the high cost of living and the collapse of the local currency, and which spread across the country for about two weeks.
Meanwhile, The number of detainees jumped to more than 40,000, according to activists reported, while fears grow that some could face the death penalty.
The American president Donald Trump has repeatedly warned the Islamic Republic and set its red lines on the use of military force: the murder of peaceful protesters and the mass execution of arrestees during the mobilizations.
Trump said on several occasions that Iran stopped the execution of 800 detained people during the mobilizationsbut did not reveal its source. Iranian Attorney General Mohammad Movahedi flatly denied that information.
In statements to the press on Thursday, Trump indicated that the United States he was bringing his warships closer to Iran “just in case” it wanted to take action. “We have a huge fleet heading in that direction and maybe we won’t have to use it,” said the American leader.
A U.S. Navy official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and other warships of his group were in the Indian Ocean.
Trump also mentioned the multiple rounds of talks that U.S. officials had with Iran about its nuclear program before Israel launched the call. “12 day war” against its rival in June, in which Washington’s military aviation participated in bombing Iranian nuclear facilities.
Furthermore, the president threatened Tehran with a military action that would make previous White House offensives against uranium enrichment “they seem insignificant.”
The tension has made at least two European airlines suspend some flights to the region. Air France canceled two round trips between Paris and Dubai, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, over the weekend and said it “closely follows developments in the Middle East in real time and continuously monitors the geopolitical situation in the territories to which it flies and those over which its aircraft fly to guarantee the highest level of safety and protection in flight.
Luxembourg’s Luxair announced that it was delaying a flight from Luxembourg to Dubai for 24 hours “in light of the tensions and insecurity that affect the airspace of the region, and in line with the measures taken by other airlines.
Although there have been no new mobilizations in Iran for days, the death toll reported by activists has continued to increase as information arrives, despite the internet blocking most complete in the history of the country and which has now lasted more than two weeks.
The Human Rights Activists News Agency, based in the United Statesindicated that the death toll is 5,200, and is expected to continue increasing. He added that more than 40,879 people were arrested. The group’s numbers have been accurate in previous riots, and are drawn from a network of activists on the ground.
The death toll exceeds that of any other round of protests or unrest in Iran in decades, and is reminiscent of the chaos that surrounded the Islamic Revolution in 1979.
According to the Iranian government, the total number of deaths is 3,117, of which 2,427 were civilians and members of the security forces, and it classified the rest as “terrorists”.
Activists warn that Iran is using the same tactics it has employed for decades, but on an unprecedented scale: shooting from rooftops at protesters, shooting buckshot into crowds and sending paramilitary Revolutionary Guard volunteers on motorcycles to beat and detain those who cannot escape.
“The vast majority of protesters were peaceful. Videos show crowds of people, including children and families, singing, dancing around bonfires, marching through their streets,” he declared. Raha Bahraini, from Amnesty International. “The authorities have opened fire illegally.”
Iranian judicial officials have called some of the detainees “mohareb” –“enemies of God”– a charge that carries the death penalty. It had been used along with other charges to carry out mass executions in 1988 that reportedly killed at least 5,000 people.
At a special session of the UN Human Rights Council on Iran on Friday, Volker Turkthe UN high commissioner for human rights, expressed concern about “contradictory statements by Iranian authorities about whether those arrested in connection with the protests can be executed.”
Iran “remains one of the main executing states in the world”, added Türk, with at least 1,500 people executed last year
Meanwhile, the Iranians continue to completely cut off the internet. In recent days, Internet users were sometimes able to access their email mailboxes or to some foreign websites like Google, but very randomly.
AP and AFP Agencies
