Chaos grips Iran. Country on edge of collapse - ADA News - September 5th, 2019

[MSgt Falconer]

Chaos grips Iran. Country on edge of collapse

ADA News - September 5th

 

The Islamic Republic of Iran has faced growing protests and dissent in the past weeks, calling for a dissolution of the theocratic rule that has characterised one of the largest players in Middle Eastern politics. These disturbances have been dormant in Iran for decades since the revolution in the 1970s but has recently seen a huge upswing following the iranian Government's failure to provide a military response to the raid on the Straits of Hormuz but US navy and Marine forces followed by the declaration of independence by the Kurdish minority in North Western Iran.

 

Reports of disturbances started coming in almost two weeks ago and have steadily escalated since then. With the Iranian regime turning more and more to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps the crackdowns have increased significantly in brutality if not in efficiency. Just last week in the city of Ifshan the IRGC opened fire on a crowd of protesters who refused to disperse when told to do so by the IRGC commander. While the iranian government is not providing any official numbers, unofficial sources state that over 20 people were killed and nearly 100 wounded. Large activity at the local hospitals seems to indicate some degree of truth to these reports.

 

These brutal crackdowns however seems to have done little more than galvanize the protesters. Just two days after what has become known locally as the Isfhan Massacre the IRGC tried to disperse another protest in Rasht. The IRGC units sent there quickly found themselves overwhelmed and lynched by the mob of protesters. Gruesome pictures of the mutilated bodies of the IRGC members strung up from light poles and hung from overpasses have circulated on social media lately. This finally triggered a public statement from the Iranian government with Minister of the Interior, Ismail Faishal, stating: “These protesters are nothing more than western sponsored terrorists. America is leading our youth astray, sowing division, hatred and violence in our country. This government vows to carry on the fight against the Great Satan”.

 

Regardless of the harsh rhetoric coming out of Tehran it seems the Iranian government has very little control over the interior of their country. Three days ago reports from an anonymous source within the Iranian Armed Forces revealed that several large military installations across the country have been stormed by large mobs who secured large amounts of weapons, ammunition and even armored military vehicles. While it remains unclear if this was an attack coordinated by some higher leader of the protests or if they were spontaneous acts against a tyrannical government remains to be seen. As of writing this no known organisation has claimed responsibility. These stormings seems to have gone off without much bloodshed themselves leading analysts to wonder if the base commanders were sympathetic to the mobs or if they simply could not hold them back considering the significant deployment of Iranian forces to the Iran Iraq border facing the US-Iraqi buildup.

 

One of the many military facilities that were stormed and looted by mobs of protesters

 

Following these incident the Iranian government has refused to give any further comments on the situation. Journalists and foreign dignitaries have been barred from attending any Iranian government function. Several countries have also stated that they are considering evacuation plans for their embassies in Tehran following the increase in violence. The previously planned talks of increased autonomy for the self declared “Kurdish republic of Iran” has seemingly ceased entirely and rumors are currently flooding in regarding US and Iraqi Special Forces crossing the border into Iranian Kurdistan.

 

ADA News Middle East division will continue to monitor this situation.

Simon Tam, ADA News, Middle East Division