Marandi: Scenes of violence in Iran not surprising as terrorists openly admit role in riots

Mohammad Marandi, a professor at University of Tehran and a political analyst, says the recent scenes of violence during riots in Iran are not surprising since terror groups, backed by the West, openly admit to having a hand in the unrest.

“They admit openly or they all claim that they are active inside Iran, and they claim to be leading the riots. So there is not surprise when people are seen, photos are taken, [and] footage is taken of people using knives, slitting police officers’ throat, shooting and killing other police officers and Basij members, [and] burning people alive,” Marandi told Press TV.

He also slammed the Western countries for supporting the rioters and glorifying them as “freedom fighters.”

The commentator also highlighted the role of hostile Persian-language media outlets based in London in fueling the unrest in Iran, amid London’s silence on their violations of the UK’s own media regulations.

Those media outlets, he said, describe the acts of rioters as “legitimate, the professor said.

If those media outlets were in English or targeting an English-speaking country, they would have been shut down by the so-called Office of Communications (OfCom), Britain’s regulatory authority for broadcasting, and their staffers would have been put on trial.

Riots broke out in Iran in mid-September after the death of Mahsa Amini. The 22-year-old fainted at a police station in Tehran and was pronounced dead three days later in hospital.

An official report by Iran’s Legal Medicine Organization concluded that Amini’s death was caused by illness rather than alleged blows to the head or other vital body organs.

Rioters went on rampage across the country, brutally attacking security officers and causing massive damage to public property as Western powers, especially the United States, provided support. 

The European Union and some western countries have imposed sanctions on Iran over its approach toward the recent riots.

Recently, former US national security advisor Bolton confirmed that subversive groups in Iran, which he characterized as the “opposition,” are being armed with weapons imported from Iraq’s Kurdistan.

Bolton: 'Opposition' groups in Iran being armed with weapons from Iraqi Kurdistan

Former US national security advisor Bolton says subversive groups in Iran are arming with weapons seized from Basij forces and imported from Iraq

Bolton, who is notorious for his hawkish stances, told London-based BBC Persian TV channel the “perspective of the systematic effort” of the subversive groups is not only to protest but to use coercive force against the Iranian government to convey the message that it is no longer unarmed and can confront the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC).

On Tuesday, Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib said the UK will pay the price of its attempts to destabilize Iran, adding that the country’s security community now recognizes the so-called Iran International channel based in London as a terrorist organization.

Iran’s top intelligence bodies, namely the Intelligence Ministry and the Intelligence Organization of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), also issued a statement last month, casting light on the role of foreign spy agencies in the unrest. They concluded that the CIA played the primary role while closely cooperating with the spy services of the UK, the Israeli regime, and Saudi Arabia.

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