“The regime in Iran has entered a period of ideological collapse that will mark a political and social turning point in Iran’s history.”
Iran’s Ideology is Collapsing
The regime of the Mullahs, which has been ruling for almost half a century, is frustrated that the imposed Ayatollah sharia is not being properly adopted by the people.
The transformation of lifestyle enforced by the Islamic Revolution caused disappointment and furious objections from the very beginning.
The Mullahs have been claiming that their otherworldly holy mission is to send people to heaven, even if by force. But on the contrary, the people of Iran scream out “death to dictators and death to the execution republic.”
While women still continue their resistance at the cost of their lives, the regime sees the headscarf issue as its own red line and tries to break up the demonstrations with disproportionate violence. Thus, mutual stubbornness continues.
The bloody interventions push mass demonstrations even more widespread throughout the country and create a joint opposition bloc by uniting different segments of society, communities of different cultures, and classes against the regime.
The Mullahs have responded by breaking down social resistance and demonstrating their resolve by resorting to mass killings.
However, the general understanding is that the paste came out of the tube in Iran.
POLICE STATE
The silencing of the opposition with harsh police measures does not surprise the Iranians.
During the Shah’s reign, it is known that dissidents were brutally executed both inside and outside the country by the SAVAK Intelligence.
Similarly, when the Khomeini Regime came to power and replaced (thwarted) the Shah’s Regime, it killed progressive youth one by one who stood up to Sharia rule.
The Mullahs executed the leaders of the People’s Fedayeen, People’s Mujahedeen, and TUDEH cadres who had survived the Savak death lists. Ironically, those young people were the same people who had once worked side by side with Mullahs to overthrow the Shah.
Every day, young generations are being murdered in city squares.
INTELLIGENCE
As in the Shah era, Ayatollahs also used intelligence networks as a driving force for the survival of their authority.
The nucleus of the ideological structure is the Army, the Ministry of Intelligence, the SAVAMA intelligence organization, and the Revolutionary Guards.
The mission of the spy training and intelligence agency SAVAMA is to carry out the export of the Islamic revolution by settling the opponents of the regime through sabotage and planned terrorist acts.
Persian intelligence is known as one of the most experienced professional organizations in the world.
The state order and all administrative levels, including the government, the legislature, and the judiciary, are all dependent on intelligence sources.
The main duty and responsibility of intelligence units is to protect and spread the ideology of the Islamic Revolution. In this way, all kinds of intrigues, including assassinations and executions, are considered legitimate.
The task division, responsibilities, and numbers of the intelligence units that surround the country like the arms of an octopus are also a mystery to the Iranians.
REVOLUTIONARY GUARDS
The Revolutionary Guards, established by Imam Khomeini, are the backbone of the regime and the real deep state authority, as they are the second official army.
Pasdarans, Besic Militia, and Arshad Patrols, with their staff positioned at all official and civil structures, are in charge of guarding the Islamic Revolution and promoting the ideology. Their responsibility is keeping the country in line with Sharia. The Iranian people have never sympathized with them.
The Revolutionary Guards are on the US list of foreign terrorist organizations. This means that a member of the United Nations declares another member’s army to be a terrorist organization.
ETHICS POLICE
The “besic” unit, also called the moral police, is the localized sub-branch of the Revolutionary Guards. They are volunteer militias. Although they are not authorized to carry arms, they use all kinds of weapons to safeguard “Islamic morality.”
Their actions cannot be questioned. Their murders are covered up by the deep state. Although they are not supposed to be officially paid, they never face financial difficulty.
MAHSA AMIN
The first spark of the latest protests started with the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amin, who was dragged into custody by the Moral Police on the grounds that her headscarf did not fit the moral code while walking with her brother on the pavement in Tehran.
The resistance, which has cost hundreds of lives, is the first mass uprising against interference with lifestyle.
Mullahs claim the objections of the masses are waging war against Allah and the Prophet and say that according to the Qur’an, the punishment for this is the gallows. They increased the dose and started executions on the grounds that protestors committed a “crime against God.”
EXECUTIONS
More than 500 demonstrators were brutally massacred in the streets.
Four young demonstrators were executed in the absence of a lawyer and without informing their families.
While the official information sources and explanations are poor and not reliable, human rights monitors report that until last week, 506 demonstrators had been killed, 18,516 were detained, 1,500 people faced the death penalty, and 20 others were already convicted and awaiting death row.
But it is no secret that the paste is now out of the tube.
Harsh and inhumane measures show that the Mullahs are not able to prevent the ongoing street protests.
What is seen is that the regime has entered a period of ideological collapse, and women plead, “We don’t want viewers anymore; join us; silence means support for oppression and cruelty.”
About the author
Hasan Sevilir AŞAN
Faculty of Political Sciences, International Relations, Ankara University
Hasan Sevilir AŞAN is a retired ambassador who served 40 years at the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. His Diplomatic duties were in India, Libya, Czechoslovakia, the UK, Iran, Australia, Albania, and South Sudan
He was also Consul General at Tabriz, Iran; Consul General at Melbourne, Australia; Ambassador to Tirana, Albania and Ambassador to Juba, South Sudan.
Since 2019, he regularly publishes articles on diplomacy and international issues in his column in Yeni Adana Newspaper.
He has special focus on the Balkans, Australia (Canakkale 1915, Anzacs, Gallipoli Campaign), Africa, Iran, G20, refugees and humanitarian aid.
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