SULAIMANI (ESTA) — The Head of the Iranian elite forces, the revolutionary guards corps (IRGC) warned protesters that Saturday would be their last day of taking to the streets, a sign that security forces may intensify their savage crackdown on nationwide unrest.
Iran’s clerical rulers have faced nationwide demonstrations since the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, on Sept. 16, posing one of the boldest challenges to the rulers there since the 1979 revolution.
“Do not come to the streets! Today is the last day of the riots,” Guards commander Hossein Salami said in some of the toughest language used in the crisis, which Iran’s leaders blame on its foreign enemies including Israel and the United States.
“This sinister plan is a plan hatched … in the White House and the Zionist regime,” Salami said. “Don’t sell your honor to America and don’t slap the security forces who are defending you in the face.”
The nationwide protests, sparked by Amini’s death in the custody of Iran’s morality police, have turned into one of the boldest challenges to the rulers. Protesters have called for the downfall of the Islamic Republic, although the protests do not seem close to toppling the system.
