Demonstrations immediately engulfed more than 190 cities and towns across the county. The regime’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei, in contrast with his previous claims about “defending of the needy people,” took his mask off and bluntly ordered the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) and its subsidiaries to crack down on the ordinary people at all the costs.

“Do whatever it takes to end it [protests],” Reuters revealed in a special report on December 23.

Following Khamenei’s order, his thugs poured to streets and slaughtered more than 1,500 protesters by shooting them in the head and chest. They conducted an unprecedented suppression via armored vehicles, heavy machineguns, snipers, and even helicopters.

The IRGC agents publicly shot coup de grâce for injured demonstrators. Additionally, security forces arbitrarily arrested around 12,000 protesters and transferred them to the regime’s dungeons. Released detainees tell horrific narratives about ill-treatment by prisons’ guards, however, the fate of many of the mentioned number is unspecified.

At the same time, the long-time authority of the regime was endangered in Iraq and Lebanon. Over the past 40 years, the mullahs spent a huge amount of Iran’s national resources to strengthen their foothold in these countries. However, the young generation is now challenging Iran’s vassals in Iraq and rejecting Iran-backed paramilitaries and politicians, particularly “Hezbollah,” as the prominent proxy of the mullahs.

Subsequently, at the beginning of 2020, the supreme leader lost his top general Qassem Soleimani in an airstrike attack nearly the Baghdad International Airport. Soleimani as the commander of the IRGC’s Quds Force was the implementer of Khamenei’s plan of suppression inside and aggression abroad.

The fact is the IRGC-QF commander had the blood of many innocent people in Iran and the whole Middle East on his hands and was playing a key role to prop up the regime’s allies in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, etc.

“Elimination of Qassem Soleimani is an irreparable blow to mullahs’ regime,” Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), stated on January 3.

 

Simultaneously, the Iranian regime took ironic actions which made it more isolated in the world. On January 6, Iranian officials announced that they won’t abide by their commitments under the Iran nuclear deal.

This move prompted the European powers who ceaselessly defended the deal to issue warnings toward the regime and think about activating the trigger mechanism to prevent the Iranian regime from achieving nuclear weapons.

The mullahs always claim that they don’t pursue to obtain atomic bombs, however, they don’t explain how a medieval regime that commits any crime it wants under the pretext of “punishment” becomes eager for progression?

On the other hand, why don’t the mullahs refrain from nuclear projects if they do not see the achievement of this project as insurance for their survival? Notably, these costly projects imposed the toughest economic conditions on the country over their regime’s history.

In such circumstances, after eight years, Khamenei as the commander-in-chief attended the Friday prayer ceremony last week. His supporters and advocates expected him to resolve the complicated conditions of the country, but under the abovementioned blows, he had nothing to offer to his loyalists.

In this context, his participation in this ceremony not only didn’t cure the regime’s obstacles but exacerbated and intensified his forces’ concerns.

In February, Khamenei must deal with another crisis. Since several months ago, the scheduled parliamentary elections have prompted a new round of infighting among the different parts of power in the ruling system.

The Guardian Council, which is under Khamenei’s direct supervision, disqualified hundreds of nominees in addition to banning 90 of current members of the parliament [Majles]. Remarkably, several officials are questioning that while an MP has been disqualified how can he continue his functions right now?

The fact is the supreme leader distrusts and is disappointed by his allies and in the most sensitive time of his rule, he has no option except tightening his inner cycle. In this respect, despite the numerous crises and threats that are surrounding his regime, Khamenei is compelled to acquiesce to more defection and desperation among his supporters as the price of assembling an obedient Majles.