Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Wednesday claimed the massive nationwide uprising against the regime he serves was an “Israeli plot” carried out by “ISIS-style terrorist operations,” and the regime has defeated these “terrorists” after three days of pitched battle.
“These terrorist cells entered the protests, using Daesh-style terrorist operations. They shot at police officers, burned them alive, beheaded them, and targeted civilians,” Araghchi claimed in an interview with Brett Baier of Fox News. “Daesh” is another name for the Islamic State.
“For three days, we were not fighting protesters. We were fighting terrorists,” Araghchi said.
According to the Iranian foreign minister, Israel’s sinister plot involved forcing the Iranian regime to kill thousands of people, which would pressure President Donald Trump to make good on his promise to defend the protesters.
“They wanted to increase the death toll. Why? Because President Trump had previously stated that if there were killings, he would intervene. Their goal was to draw the United States into the conflict,” he charged.
“This was a deliberate plot by Israel. They sought to create more deaths by targeting ordinary people and police officers,” he said.
As he has done several times before, Aragchi claimed the uprising has been put down and the regime has established “full control of the security situation.” He said any further unrest could only be the result of outside forces using their malign influence to cause more chaos on the streets of Iran.
“Let’s hope we don’t see a high level of tension, which could be disastrous for everyone,” he said.
The commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a designated terrorist organization that supervises both espionage abroad and oppression operations at home, echoed Araghchi’s talking points on Wednesday about Israel and the United States using “Daesh-style mercenaries” to cause unrest.
“The powerful and popular IRGC is at the height of readiness to provide a decisive response to miscalculation by the enemy and their Daesh-style domestic mercenaries,” Maj. Gen. Mohammad Pakpour said.
“With reliance on Almighty God, under the leadership of the Leader, and through the sacred unity of the Iranian nation, we will nullify the schemes of the rulers in the White House and Tel Aviv against a ‘Strong Iran,’” he vowed.
Pakpour accused both President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of orchestrating the violence in Iran.
“Undoubtedly, Trump and Netanyahu are the killers of Iranian youth and the defenders of the state’s security,” he said, insulting Netanyahu as a “child-killer” and Trump as a “criminal gambler” and “Nimrod of the time.”
Nimrod was a Biblical figure, the great-grandson of Noah and a legendary huntsman, whose negative reputation is based on either his alleged role in building the Tower of Babel or something Bugs Bunny once said about Elmer Fudd, depending on who you ask.
The commander of the IRGC’s ground forces, Brig. Gen. Mohammad Karami, said on Thursday that Iran is “facing a comprehensive and multifaceted war with the enemy,” of which the street protests are merely one facet.
Ali Larijani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, dutifully recited the talking points by claiming “the main killers of the people of Iran” are “1-Trump” and “2-Netanyahu.”
Contrary to the claims by these Iranian officials, international media and human rights observers say the vast majority of the thousands of casualties in the uprising have been Iranian civilians murdered by the regime, not police and security forces. Estimates of the death toll range from 2,400 to over 20,000, with most observers agreeing that the regime’s blackout on online communications has made it very difficult to confirm the fatalities.
The Associated Press (AP) said on Thursday the nationwide protests “appeared increasingly smothered” after a week of bloody repression, which included police efforts to prevent unauthorized Internet access by confiscating Starlink devices.
“In Iran’s capital, Tehran, witnesses said recent mornings showed no new signs of bonfires lit the night before or debris in the streets. The sound of gunfire, which had been intense for several nights, has also faded,” the AP reported.
“China’s foreign ministry said Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told his Chinese counterpart that the situation in the country was now stable,” the report added.
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