By Aresu Eqbali in Tehran, Iran, and Isabel Coles in Baghdad
Iran's top paramilitary force threatened to crack down on
Iranians protesting a rise in fuel prices, as Tehran struggles to
counter U.S. sanctions that are crippling the country's economy and
posing a risk to the government.
As demonstrations persisted on Monday, the powerful Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps said it would "confront the continuation
of any insecurity and actions disturbing the people's peace and
calm in a revolutionary and decisive way."
The unrest shows the widespread anger among Iranians whose
savings have evaporated as unemployment soars and the currency
collapses, posing a political risk for President Hassan Rouhani
ahead of February parliamentary elections.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who oversees the Guard
Corps, said on Sunday that the legislative, administrative branches
and judiciary branches of government made the decision, which he
supported. The statement showed how the crisis has forced the
regime to put on a unified front.
The Guard Corps' warning comes as Iran's government said an
unspecified number of policemen were killed during the protests,
while public and private infrastructure -- including banks, gas
stations and security bases -- were burned and destroyed since
protests broke out over the weekend.
Sporadic protests continued on Monday in several cities such as
Mahshahr in southwestern Iran, according to Iran's semiofficial
ILNA news agency. The scope and scale of the demonstrations have
been difficult to determine, since the government has restricted
access to the internet.
Henry Rome, Iran analyst for Eurasia group, said Iran's
leadership had taken a calculated risk in raising fuel prices to
help the economy and appeared to be prepared for the backlash it
would provoke. Security forces were ready to deploy en masse; the
internet was ready to be essentially turned off immediately; and a
complex plan to distribute cash to 60 million people was on
standby.
"I don't think we're seeing the prelude to a revolutionary
tipping point, " Mr. Rome said. "Everything the government has done
up to this stage indicates they knew protests would follow, but
they went forward with the austerity measures anyway."
The protests come at a sensitive time for Iran, which is feeling
the heat of popular uprisings against governments it supports.
In neighboring Iraq, protesters rejecting foreign interference
in the country's affairs are directing their ire against Iran. In
Lebanon, demonstrators are protesting Iran's role in the country,
where it supports the political and military group Hezbollah, a
pillar of the government.
The protests come as the U.S. pressures Iran with sanctions
after President Trump withdrew Washington from the 2015
multilateral Iran nuclear deal. The U.S. wants Iran to scale back
what it calls Tehran's interference in the region and its nuclear
and military ambitions. The U.S. government voiced support for the
Iranian people in their protests over the weekend.
Abbas Mousavi, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman, said the U.S.
was in no position to express sympathy for the Iranian people
because the hardships that had driven them into the street were a
result of Washington's "economic terrorism."
Iranians had protested against inflation and high unemployment
even before the U.S. reimposed sanctions on Iran. Street protests
in late 2017 evolved into the most widespread challenge to the
government in nearly a decade, with protesters demanding an end to
the government and the rule Mr. Khamenei's rule. Since then,
hundreds of outbreaks of labor unrest have emerged, piling pressure
on Iranian leaders for failing to deliver better living
conditions.
Rioters had exploited the latest protests to set fire to banks
and gas stations, raid military and police bases, gas and
telecommunication infrastructures and private property, according
to government spokesman Ali Rabiei.
"The government acknowledges the right of people to protest, but
a protester is different from a rioter," Mr. Rabiei said.
Nearly 1,000 people have been arrested across the country since
Friday night, when the government announced it was raising the fuel
prices, while over 100 banks and 57 big stores have been set on
fire or plundered in a single province, the Fars news agency
reported.
Mr. Rabiei told reporters the internet connection would be
restored on Monday or Tuesday, predicting the protests would tail
off.
Meanwhile, state television on Monday broadcast footage of
pro-regime rallies and the funeral of a major who was killed in
clashes with protesters in the western Iranian city of
Kermanshah.
Early estimates contained in a report of an intelligence body by
the Fars news agency found nearly 87,000 people in protest rallies
and gatherings since Friday night.
"The identical methods of the main core of violent rioters
discloses that they are fully trained individuals who have been
prepared and looking forward for the situation to rise, unlike most
people who have been taken off guard by the sudden hike in gas
price," the report said.
Write to Isabel Coles at isabel.coles@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 18, 2019 15:06 ET (20:06 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.