According to observers, the hitting of the Ukrainian plane is reminiscent of the Chernobyl incident that occurred on the eve of the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The hitting of the plane was the last piece in the chain that began with the death of Qassem Suleimani, which increased the bad situation of the regime, which got worse with the uprising of people in various cities in the country. A situation in which the representatives of the Velayat-e Faqih (Supreme Leader) inevitably exhibited aspects of it in their Friday prayers’ shows.
Lotf-Allah Dezhkam, Friday prayers leader in Shiraz: “In this case, the enemies of Islam wanted to question one of our pillars of national power and protest against the armed forces and the Missile Forces and the Revolutionary Guards.” (Fars News Agency, 17 January)
But he did not mention how the authority of the system and the armed forces have been called into question. As one government expert answered this: “The video that a man who went up the light pole and disdain to the portray of Haj Qassem (Qassem Soleimani) was at least one of the key images that the enemies wanted” (TV News Network, 17 January).
Taking down the image of Qassem Soleimani and setting it on fire is a symbol of bringing down the sovereignty of the regime.
Such acts by anti-government protesters in Iran have shaken the spirits of the regime’s agents, and the Friday prayers leaders were forced to come to the stage and console them.
In the Friday prayers sermon in Mashhad, the cleric Mogheri said: “What you see is chaos … Some people were thrown into the street … You should not be afraid … If this did not happen in the sedition of 2009; in the imposed war in the MEK/PMOI case, we would not have known the enemy. The same terrible thing can happen in the community by someone who shoots down a Ukrainian plane to the one who made riot on Ashura and tears down Imam’s (Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of the Iranian regime) image and kicks the poster of Soleimani.” (Astan Quds TV, 17 January)
Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of the Expediency Council, also failed to hide his fear and cried: “These have come in the last two years since 2018, November 2019; and in the last few days because of the plane issue. They came through the cyberspace, and they tried to take advantage of the people’s protests.” (Channel 3 state-TV, 17 January)
The horror of the current explosive situation is a reality that has not been kept hidden by international media and analysts.
In this regard, the Los Angeles Times wrote: “Despite defiance and fiery rhetoric during a rare Friday sermon, Iran’s supreme leader is facing multiplying dangers: Protesters again in the streets, Europe’s threat of new economic sanctions and President Trump’s drone strike on a top general have shaken a regime that for decades has stayed in power by repressing its people and sowing intrigue across the Middle East.” (The Los Angeles Times, 17 January)
The Los Angeles Times summarized the coordinates of the regime quoting an Iran specialist: “Corruption is very high, and the government is not able to meet the basic needs of its people. The division between nation and government is increasing very fast. It has turned away people from the government. That lack of public trust is the most important thing.” (The Los Angeles Times, 17 January)
As can be seen from the statements made by the authorities and the above mentioned, the sighs and vexations of these days of the rulers and their agents over the events of the last two weeks that were too bitter for the ruler and Ali Khamenei to bitterly admit in his sermon this week. Kurdish, because of the fear of the uprising and the fear of the mullahs being overthrown by the uprising people, especially the rebel youth.
Their apprehension about the explosive conditions of society is similar to that of the uprisings of 2018 and of November 2019.
The uprisings have shaken the rotten pillars of the government, and yet every time regime officials and figures point to these uprisings.
But the reality is that the situation of this regime has gone beyond all these concerns, and these worries about the situation are not useful and will not solve anything. Because the explosive conditions of society are such that the uprisings will continue.
Concerning the objective conditions of the uprising and the regime’s deadlock, Bahram Parsai, a member of the Iranian parliament, says: “The present state of our country and the gaps in it are not hidden. The depth of these gaps is so deep that it cannot be ignored by the usual slogans and propaganda and attributed to some conspiracies. Approaching the timeframes of public protests in the country in a timely manner, involving more people in these protests, widening the scope of the protests to a wider variety of issues and covering more areas is a clear sign for any observer to know that the Iranian community is not under normal circumstances. ” (Iran state-run newspaper, 18 January)
