by Mansoureh Tajik for the Saker blog
We were defining success. Having lavishly financed and miserably failed all options that were on, under, above, besides, and in secret compartments of the metaphorical-turned-legendary table against the Islamic Republic of Iran, the unholy trinity, US-Zionists-UK, went back, once again, to the drawing board. Hope springs eternal. This time, the trio pinned all their hopes on a mirage that gleamed and shimmered on vast cognitive and physical domains of the Iranians and the Iranian Plateau through which the Wilayat of God and the Old and New Silk Roads pass respectively.
The mirage was the mother of all mirages. It felt so real they believed the oasis. Therein lied their folly. The chores were divvyed up, the sounds of Arrahil! Arrahil!(1) echoed in local and global virtual and beamed chambers; the calls proliferated upon algorithmically-designed ethereal caravans to get moving. Rented personalities, disposable celebrities, background actors and extras nestled inside snowball-samples of clueless young men and women interspersed with trained and armed sleeping cells severing as "page-turners", "autonomy- seekers", "hate-preachers", and "killers". They were all activated at once and the orchestra began playing a symphony of death and destruction. Ironically, the codename was "secure & reliable."(2) The trio hedged their bets in multiple loosing hands. Therein lied their second folly.
Paradoxically, the societies of taxpayers, who have to flip a coin "to choose" whether to pay for their grocery bills or their needed medicine and are unable to heat their homes in the winter, are graced with footing the bills. Of course, Head-chopping House of Saud, too, is always eager to be milked and supplement.
The swarms were tasked to upload and download their virtual carriages and camels with robotically woven tapestries of deception, denigration, degradation, disruption, destruction, and denial, again lavishly financed and produced at an industrial scale in lie factories of the unholy trinity, US-Zionists-UK. The mirage and the cyber caravans were a match made in the land of grand delusions. All manners of hot, cold, soft and hard wares and power were used to work over tender pressure points of the Iranian nation's nervous system.
Their failure was a foregone conclusion. But, what do they really want? Where did they go wrong? And, why? Most importantly, what was the Islamic Republic of Iran's strategy? Those are appropriate questions and we shall explore them in this essay.
Facts on the Ground
Let's begin with a few facts on the ground. I made a collage using sample photos, extracted from various news sources, of some of the discovered weapons (or spoils of war, depending on your frame of reference) from some very peaceful protestors who were arrested while protesting rather peacefully and from the nests of some who were aiding and abetting:
That's not all. Rocks, fists, and boots, too, all served as convenient weapons. Here in Karaj, where I live, a trial was held for 16 very brave and peaceful protestors, the champions of human rights, women rights, gay rights, lesbian rights, dog lover rights, cat lover rights, and any other rights your mind could fathom. The defendants had been arrested on the charges of mob killing of Seyyed Ruhullah Ajamian, disrupting the peace, and creating public insecurity during their extremely peaceful protest on Aban, 12, 1401 [Nov. 3, 2022].
Martyr Ajamian was a 26-year old volunteer Basiji who worked as a day-time and seasonal minimum-wage construction worker alongside his father. He was at the scene trying to unblock the road (Karaj-Qazvin Freeway) to ease the traffic jam caused by roadblocks placed by the protestors. He was not carrying any sort of weapon (none of the Basijis are) nor did he have any other tool with him. Not even a stick.
The freedom-loving protestors had been corralled using digital horns by a very peace-loving couple, the Qara Hasanlooes, to stage a protest in Behesht Sakineh Cemetery in Karaj. The protests needed to have all elements of a good quality show: blocking of the roads, creating traffic jams, inciting violence, killing and injuring for special effects, and filming the entire event to be then sent to Persian-language television networks housed in civilized nations of England, France, Germany, and the United States of America, the lands where the police force treats the civilians with tender love and care.
It appears, Martyr Ajamian, unprovoked by extremely calm protestors (as evident from the videos), suddenly began hitting his body, repeatedly and relentlessly, to the fists, tip of the boots, knives, knuckle weapons, bricks, and woods of and in the hands of the human-right loving protestors, the champions of "Women, Life, Freedom" to the point of his own death. According to the interviews conducted with some of the gentle and innocent protesters who were just accidentally present at the scene without any prior intention or plans, the martyr's blood aggressively forced itself on the shoes, boots, and hands of the peaceful protestors.
The level of violence Martyr Ajamian's body and blood exacted upon the fists, knuckles, breaks, and knives of the peaceful protestors cannot be described by any words I could think of. Perhaps it would be clearer if we read (and watch for those who know Farsi) the testimonies of the innocent protestors in their own words. You could watch (at your own risk) parts of the scene and the interviews here and parts of the testimonies in court here. What is transcribed here could also be seen in the videos.
The Judge: "Tell those who are present, what this martyr's crime was that he had to be killed in such an oppressive way; and after being killed, his body to be dragged here and there on the paved road."
M.M. Karami: "Sir, Judge, I was under the influence of what I was hearing from foreign media. We were deceived... someone from somewhere said, 'he is a Basiji.' I turned my head that way. It was a dirt hill. It looked like he had fallen on the ground. Two or three people were around him and were hitting him...while he was running away, rocks, wood, and bare hands, and punches... they were throwing at him. Perhaps, I could easily say, those who were throwing things at him were more than 30 or 40 people. Now, someone would punch him once or twice and would run away. Someone would hit him once and stay around. Someone would stand and watch...I was watching. I could see knives, knuckle weapons of different sizes. Some people had rocks in their hands. With my left hand, I grabbed his [the martyr's] right shoulder and turned him around and hit his head with a rock. After I hit him, I punched him on the head three more times."
M.M. Karami: "I saw he had fallen on the ground. As his body had folded like this, someone was jumping on his ribs, on his right side. When it was less crowded around him, I went and hit him in his groin..."
The Judge: "With what?"
M.M. Karami: "...with my foot. Then, I kicked his knees twice. Around this time, someone else came. As far as my eyes could see, there were three or four knife strikes. I don't know the reason. Cuts were about as deep as two finger joints. He hit a few times more. After this guy had hit him with the knife and gone off his belly, I grabbed his legs and pulled his body in front of the truck there. While doing this, his shoe came off into my hand. Here, is that scene [the defendant pointed to a specific point on the video screen]... this is the boot...here [pointing to the martyr's face] I hit his face twice more with the boot."
Below is part of another defendant's testimony, Muhammad Hosseini:
M. Hosseini: "I saw a few people who had rocks in their hands. They had a lot of rocks in their hands. The security guards were standing across the road on the other side of the freeway [Karaj-Qazvin freeway]. I, without really wanting to, picked up a few rocks. I did this without any intentions. I threw two rocks but they were standing too far and the rocks, thank God, did not reach them... I had the knives with me because I wanted to dig a hole near my parents' grave to buy flowers and plant flowers there."
The Judge: "You had a whole bunch of knives, swords, and daggers there, you claim you wanted to plant flowers over your father's grave with them; in addition, you had quite a few of these items at your home. What were they for, for planting more flowers?"
M. Hosseini: Before, I used to teach sports. I am a physical education instructor...
The Judge: "...with knives?"
M. Hosseini: "Allow me, I am a physical education instructor and those are devices used for in-class practice.... I got to the martyr's side. I took out my knife and, as deep as two finger joint [about 2.5 inches], I did not strike but I just put it [the knife] in and pressed it inside.
Shahid Ajamian's death is one of the least gruesome deaths. Pouring gasoline on a solider and setting him on fire, slashing the throat of another policeman, and decapitating yet another one have been some other examples of savagery supported by the very exact regimes that created, trained, financed, and armed ISIS.
According to the most recent statement released by the Council of National Security, nearly 200 people have been killed and martyred by random shootings, mass shootings (e.g., Shahcheragh, Shiraz and Izeh), and during protests in the past few months since the start of the protests.(3) Of those killed, more than 60 belong to the police, the security, and the Basiji forces so far. The number of injured is in thousands. Sardar Fadavi, Vice Commander of IRGC, stated this week that "Had we not shown restraint, we could have finished the riots in six days."(4) We will discuss the reasons for this "restraint," or what has been dubbed as "Strategic Patience" in dealing with the rioters and protestors first and will then attend to the questions raised earlier in the sections that follow.
"Strategic Patience" in Dealing with Protesters and Violent Rioters
If, as Sardar Fadavi stated, the Iranian government could have finished the entire event within 6 days, how come the police and security forces allowed for the riots to go on and cause the destruction of public and private properties costing billions of Tomans, the death of 200 people that includes more than sixty of their forces, and injury to thousands of people, policemen, and Basijis?
The short answer is that the Iranian police and security forces are not in any way, shape, or form similar to their counterparts in the US, Europe, and other self-proclaimed "civilized" nations where protestors and rioters are turned into colanders for defying and attacking the police. As a general rule, the police and the security forces in the Islamic Republic of Iran do not act aggressively in a reflexive manner even if their acquiescence leads to serious injuries and their death. Force is used as an absolute last resort. Anyone claiming differently must provide solid, truthful, and verifiable evidence to support his claim. Making false claims and repeating them and doctoring images are not good substitutes for facts.
There is a longer and more nuanced answer to the question though. I list three critical reasons for this "strategic patience" exercised by Iran here. Firstly, when the socio-political ambiance is highly charged, as a consequence of non-stop bombardment of false information through social media and Persian-language satellite televisions, and when a sizable portion of the population has not become fully aware of what is really happening, heavy-handed approaches would simply lead to adding more fuel to the fire. So, the police, the security, and the Bassij endanger their own lives until the "fogs" dissipate and the people who are lethargic wake up and see things for how they really are.
Secondly, the delayed response, by the police and security forces, emboldened the true culprits and the trained actors and agents, and their masters and gave them a false sense of victory, that wonderful mirage. Therefore, they came out of their hiding places en masse. Many hidden hands and covert agents, some of whom were trained and in waiting for decades, have exposed themselves. Countless networks of operatives have been identified and destroyed. Key members of many of those networks have been arrested or killed. The details the arrested operatives provide in their confessions are rather illuminating.
I have transcribed portions of confessions from some operatives who were part of two to three teams carrying out a kidnapping and torture job for Mossad here inside Iran. Writing the details of each confession might seem mundane (and rather tedious for me), however, I think they provide a nice overview of how online teams of operatives get contacted, trained step-by-step, their information triangulated, and then guided through carrying out a pre-designed plan for killing, kidnapping, torture, etc. by foreign agents and organizations here and elsewhere around the globe. The video is in Farsi and could be accessed here.
"I have a friend by the name of Ozan. I was arrested on the charges of human trafficking. When I was in prison in Greece, I become friends with him Later, I went to where he lived so that I could work with him...This Arya fellow visited us. He was Ozan's friend. We lived there in a house. Arya said 'I have given your number to someone and he'll call you.' So, I was waiting. After three weeks, a fellow by the name of Cyrus called and said, 'My name is Syrus and Arya gave me your number so that you could do a job.' I said, 'Whatever you need, I'll do it for you here.' He said, 'We have jobs from killing a cat to killing a human.' Then he said, 'There is job I want you to do. During that job, I teach you how to go, how to come, and what to do not to get arrested; how to escape the surveillance cameras. We'll bring you here to do your job, film your work, and just like that return to your home. On your way back to your home, you'll send the film to me. Then, when you arrived, in your own home and using your own mobile phone, you call me.' I said, okay. It was this way. He trained me, through WhatsApp, how to come, how to go,...""The money was to be paid using digital currency. We downloaded and ran the Wallet on our mobile phones. He sent his address code to us for digital currency payment. When we were to begin the job, he would give us some amount then after we had done the initial work and sent photos, he would send some more. To purchase equipment, he would send money. After the job was finished, too, he would send money for the guys..."
"He said we have forces like you but we cannot have them do everything. Like, he would say, 'I have someone in Turkey. I can't send him all the way to Iran. His other duties would be neglected. So, we need forces.' More than a hundred times, I conversed with Cyrus. He would call me every day. Every day, every three or four hours, he would call me..."
"He said, 'Wait right there. Someone will bring a car with this plate number and this color. He sent a photo of the plate and the car itself. And I went there and saw it [the car] was there and I got it from Milad."
"The next morning, it was decided for Shahin, Mustafa, and me to go and bring the person. But when we went the next morning, the guys became fearful and couldn't do it. One day, we were late. For two to three days we couldn't bring him. The third day, Cyrus got upset. He said, 'You can't do it. So, I'll add two more people to your team and add another car.' The night before we were going, that night he sent pseudonyms for everyone. He put my pseudonym as Zakaria."
"I was inside when I realized I had been identified. I left the house to escape but I was arrested in the street. I didn't think I could be identified. I didn't think I would be arrested. Four days after the operation, I was arrested. That is the night of my arrest, a couple of hours before that, I was talking to Cyrus."
"In whatever way they can, they convince you to do things for them. One day they tempt you, one day they show you a lot of money, one day they show you power... And, if you don't want to do it, then they use threats to force you to do things."
This next segment contains parts of another member's confession as seen in the same video:
"It was the 10th month of last year, 1400. A woman in Instagram sent me a message. She was someone called Azita. We talked for a while and then she said, 'I have a job proposition for you.' I asked what it was. She said, 'I have a brother who is very rich. He has a factory in Tehran. Send your number to me so that I send it to him to call you.' A couple of weeks after I sent her the number, he called and introduced himself as Siavash... He would contact me through WhatsApp and he said, 'I am a resident in Sweden. I have been here for a long time. My sister, Azita, too, is a resident here.' His first job for me was to go to some street and take a photo of that street for him. It was somewhere uptown. For the second job, before telling me what it was, he said 'you need to introduce someone else as well.' So, I introduced Manouchehr to him. They talked and things were okay. It was decided that from there on, we do everything as a pair. Then, he gave us a job that entailed going inside a house in Tehransar to take photos and films from the inside. I okayed things with Manouchehr and we went there and filmed the inside of the house.""Every job he needed to send us money for, I would use my friend's Wallet... Each time, he would transfer 10, 15, or 20 [Million] Toman.... It was around the end of the month of 12, near the New Year holiday, he said 'You must buy a motorbike but do not buy it in your own name. Neither in your name, nor in Manouchehr's.' The next day he called me and asked, 'Could you kidnap someone?'"
"...Then, we went to Abuzar Fallah and he told us 'two guys will come to you, to your car by the names of Zakaria and Soheil. If they said those names, allow them into the car.'..."
"Then, they came and got into the car and they called Siavash right away. They were calling Siavash by the name of Cyrus. Siavash had told me 'those fellows know me as Siavash so don't say anything.' As soon as we got there, Hosein called Cyrus and Cyrus told us 'show them the house. Show them how to get in and how to get out. If you do this well, I'll add another 50 million Toman to your payments.'"
"Then, there was a large black case. He put it in front of Hosein. Hosein was cleaning everything very carefully with chlorine solution. There was a choker, a tripod, a camcorder...there were bullets, two wireless phones,... He cleaned everything with chlorine solution and put them back into the case..."
"Mostafa had a machete in his hand. He said 'this machete is enough for me.' Mostafa and them were supposed to come by bike and we were to go by car...Hosein called through the wireless phone and told us the fellow was coming and to be ready. Shahin got off. The fellow realized something was about to happen. He turned to run away but Hosein caught him from behind. Shahin ran there and they both held him. Monchehr joined them as well. Then, they forced him into the car. Four of them sat in the back. We went to a street and I called Siavash. Siavash was laughing and said 'you have done a very important job.'"
"The next day at 4:30 pm at Mehrabad Airport I was arrested. Until this moment, I think I am still in a dream."
Another fellow confessed the following:
.he called me and told me you must go and get films from his street and his house...also from the building from outside. I said, 'okay. We will go.' Then, Hosein and I went and took videos of everything in the street, of the building, the door to the building, the building number, everything... and returned home. As soon as we got home, they had transferred 20 million Toman more into our accounts...""After his first call to us, he had transferred some money to Hosein's. Hosein bought mobile phones, SIM Cards...and downloaded and ran WhatsApp on all them and gave one to each of us. Every time he contacted us, it was through this WhatsApp. When we would ask him, he would say 'Don't bother with knowing where I am....just do whatever I tell you to do. Do your job and get your money.'"
"He then sent us his photo, his address, his house number, everything and told us 'go and see the neighborhood first and once you saw everything, then let me know and I'll give you each 200 million Toman.' As soon as he said he'll give us 200 million Toman each, all three of us accepted.
Thirdly, in the line of reasons for "strategic patience", experience of some real and actual chaos and insecurity are good reminders to us as a nation not to take things for granted, not to become spoiled and have a sense of entitlement, and appreciate the blessings God has given us. Some tremors every once in a while might cause some inconveniences but it is healthy and builds this nation's character. It also gives us a chance to have a scholastic exercise in observing, examining, and measuring how sophisticated theories, models, and plans of sworn enemies of this nation come to naught and then observe their reaction.
Credible and substantiated rumors(5), courtesy of Edward Joseph Snowden, of course, had it for some times that the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Iranian nation have occupied a special and prominent place as targets of cyber and social influence operations run by the operatives of the so-called five-eyes countries(6):
We are honored. I am often curious about the price tag for these sorts of operations. One of the documents(7) lists an annual price tag of $52.6 billion in "black budget"(8) earmarked for cyber operations in 2013, operations that also includes social influence operations. That is more than half a trillion dollar in the past ten years by just one of the so-called five-eyes countries, and only the covert budget, and only for the cyber operations. For the sake of sustainability, as defined by themselves, they could have used a tiny fraction of that amount to figure ways to keep all Europeans warm in the winter, cool in the summer, and their factories running all year long. I am just saying.
Where did US-Zionists-UK Go Wrong and Why?
I suppose we must first establish that the trio failed miserably since it is the assumption in the above question. On Wednesday, Azar 14 [December 5, 2022], Al-Alam Network published a special report on its interview with a security authority about the Islamic Republic of Iran having receive a secret message from key "Western governments" about stopping their support for the protests and riots in Iran if Iran fulfills four specific conditions. I translate part of the article (numbers in brackets and emphasized texts are mine):
"A security official, in a communication with Al-Alam Network, affirmed heavy support of several Western countries of riots in Iran and added these countries have said they will stop their support for the rioters should Iran accept 4 conditions. According to him, these countries have said if Iran (1) injects supplies of oil and gas into the global market without limits and pre-conditions during current energy crisis, (2) accepts the Western position in its nuclear files, (3) reaches an agreement with the Saudi regime with regards to regional issues, and (4) cuts all cooperation with Russia, they will stop their support for the protesters/rioters."(9)
An amusing menu of wishes. They sure got on a "Streetcar Named Desire" and forgot to transfer. Nevertheless, the Iranian nation is awake and aware. The majority understands there are economic and social problems, but they are not willing to gamble with the nation's security and independence. While you may get to see what your free media allows you to see in the virtual realm, the reality tells a different story. I think if Charles Dickens were to rise up and write a contemporary companion to his Tale of Two Cities paradox, he would have several excellent examples of real versus virtual lands in places like the Islamic Republic of Iran wherefrom to extract inspirations.
Below is a screenshot from the video of people attending the funeral of Martyr Ajamian in Karaj. Thousands of people attended the funeral:
The day after the martyrdom of Shahid Ajamian, on the 13th of Aban [November 4, 2022], the National Day of Fighting the Global Arrogance, the people of Iran showed up in unprecedented numbers and presented the images of reality in response to images created by media magicians on the payroll of the Global Arrogance. They created yet another Yaumullah, or "Day of God" since God and Only God can truly move people's hearts.
There were massive demonstrations all over Iran shouting "We are standing to the End," Down with the USA, Down with Zionist Regime, and Down with England. You could view sample videos from different cities like Dezful, Gilan, Isfahan, Tehran, Urumieh, and Zanjan in case the "free" press in the West has protected the citizens from reality.
It is befitting to provide a synopsis of what the Global Day of Fighting Arrogance is. The 13th of Aban [4th of November] was designated as the Global Day of Fighting Arrogance to remember 3 major events in Iran's recent history: First, on this day in 1343 [1964], Imam Ruhullah Khomeini was sent to exile by the US puppet, Shah's regime, for publicly objecting to the passage of a bill according to which Iran capitulated its right as an independent nation and agreed to terms that effectively made Iran a vassal state of the global arrogance. The seed of the Revolution was sown. Second, on this day in 1357 [1978], a group of revolutionary students who were sitting in protest were massacred by Shah's security forces while they were locked behind closed university gates. The seed of the student movement was sown. Third, on this day in 1358 [1979], a group of students captured the United States of America's Den of Spies ('embassy') and the spies ('diplomats') therein. The seed of a global fight against the Global arrogance was sown.
But, where did they go wrong?
An Iranian folk tale might be good place to start. A fellow, reputed for his 'genius', went to store to buy a sack of grain. Upon arrival, he noticed a long line of people waiting. Unwilling to wait patiently in line till his turn, he began a false rumor about some free stew that was being distributed a couple of blocks down the road. At first, a few people left their positions in the line in the hopes of getting some free stew. As the rumor spread, more and more people abandoned the line and hurried out of the store and down the block for their share of the free stew. Naturally, the fellow was quite pleased with his own genius and amazed at people's gullibility. His wait time in line had now been slashed to a fraction of what it would have been. Upon observing the masses of people rushing away to get their share of free stew though, an anxious feeling overtook him: what if the rumor was true and he would be left out getting his share of the free stew. So, the fellow abandoned the line and hurried to get free stew before it was all gone.
In short, US-Zionists-UK believed their own lies and proceeded to act based on false narratives of their own production and not reality. That is lethal for any good planner. False narratives felt so true that even good old Biden got animated and promised to free Iran:
"So, you know, we found out that a lot of our soldiers, more people are coming back from Iraq, Afghanistan with serious brain injuries and tumors than any other war in American history, other than the civil war...more amputees are coming back than any wars in American history. And those burn pits...those burn pits, don't worry we are going to free Iran...they are going to free themselves pretty soon."
You go, tiger!
Humor aside though, the "First Man" in the West is in such a sorry state. I think his mind fills the blanks with just whatever of similar shape, color, and texture his brain has archived. Images of fire from young Iranian girls burning their scarfs and bras replace fire pits of US toxic military burn pits and triggers "we are going to free Iran." Sort of like a "thought lottery." We seek refuge in God when He teaches us lessons.
In any case, absence of a clear and solid strategy and plan, feeling helpless to stop how the world is changing, so desperate to get what they need, and over excited by what they thought they almost had, the trio brought to the battlefield most of their most precious "assets", overt and covert, and burned them all. They spent billions of dollars and thousands of human- and bot-hours to fabricate falsehoods in order to "discredit, promote distrust, dissuade, deceive, disrupt, delay, deny, denigrate/degrade, and deter"(6) people of the world in the direction of their choosing against the Islamic Republic of Iran. Somewhere along the line, they began to believe their own lies and made critical decisions based on self-misperceptions of their own creation. Then, they spent billions of more dollars and thousands of more human- and bot-hours to re-analyze, recalculate, and re-figure where to go from there. Their four demands mentioned earlier are a pathetic manifestation of their desperation.
They underestimated the Iranian nation, once again, ignored the Will of God, once again, and overestimated their own power and reach, once again.
References:
(1) Arrahil (الرحیل) is an Arabic term that is also used as a call to all those traveling in a caravan to pack up and start moving (often very early in the morning when it is still dark).
(2) Amini was the last name of the Iranian woman whose death triggered the start of the protests in Iran. In Farsi, the name means being secure and reliable.
(3) Mehr News Agency. "Two Hundred People have lost their lives in the recent riots." News Code: 5645721. Azar 12, 1401 [December 3, 2022] @13:12. Accessed online at: mehrnews.com/xYZqP
(4) Jahan Emrouz News. "If we had not showed restraint, we could have finished the riots in six days, Vice Commander of IRGC." News Code: 81605. Aban 29, 1401 [November 20, 2022] @ 13:45. Accessed online at: jahannews.com
(5) Snowden Archive. Available online at: grid.glendon.yorku.ca
(6) Mandeep K. Dhami. "Behavioural Science Support for JTRIG's (Joint Threat Research and Intelligence Group's) Effects and Online HUMINT Operations." Human Systems Group, Information Management Department, March 10, 2011. Available online at: grid.glendon.yorku.ca
(7) FY 2013 Congressional Budget Justification, Vol. I, National Intelligence Program Summary. February 2012, Available online at: grid.glendon.yorku.ca
(8) Chris Sanders & Catherine Austin Fitts. "The Black Budget of the United States: the Engine of a Negative Return Economy." World Affairs: The Journal of International Issues, Vol. 8, No. 2 (April-June 2004), Pages 17-34.
(9) Al-Alam Network. "Special Al-Alam: Four Western Conditions in Return for no supporting the Rioters." Monday, Azar 14, 1401, @ 11:50. News Code: 6465528. Available online at: fa.alalam.ir