According to a recent report in MEMRI, Dr. Sam Mehdi Torabi, the Director of Iran’s Risalat Strategic Studies Institute, came out in support of the recent nationwide race riots on Iran’s Channel 2 TV: “If we want America to change, we must deal with those people – not in legal ways but through a revolution. I’ve said before that I don’t pin much hope on the Americans carrying out a revolution, but the only solution that will bring an end to this Satan, in the words of Imam Khomeini, is for those oligarchs to be annihilated. If the Americans have the courage to do it – by all means. We will help them, too. If they do not have the necessary courage, someone from the outside must finish those [oligarchs] off.”
The Islamic Republic of Iran coming out to sanction the nationwide race riots in the US could not have come at a worse time. During the coronavirus pandemic, the American people have suffered immensely. Firstly, 100,000 Americans passed away so far due to the pandemic. In some areas of America, there were so many dead bodies that they had to cremate the deceased and the health system completely collapsed. Furthermore, this terrible virus cost the American economy $7.9 trillion over the next 10 years due to the lockdowns that were imposed in order to fight against COVID-19. According to USA Today, this reality has caused a massive increase in domestic violence, anxiety, depression, unemployment, loss and grief, not to mention a rise in the divorce rate.
As if this great humanitarian tragedy was not difficult enough, a white police officer during this horrific pandemic murdered George Floyd, an African American man in Minneapolis, leading to national protests that transformed into nationwide race riots, thanks to the intervention of Antifada, white supremacists and other extremists. These extremists in turn looted and vandalized kosher stores and synagogues, while spraying anti-Semitic graffiti over Jewish holy sites. This struggle between the extremists and the authorities led to curfews being imposed, which led to the brutal suppression of freedom of the press and the persecution of journalists. One photographer is blind in the left eye today because of the police brutality that journalists faced while covering the nationwide race riots.
And now, the Islamic Republic of Iran plans to capitalize on this chaos. According to the Clarion Project, an organization that monitors Islamist extremism, already a number of months ago, Hassan Rahimpour Azghadi, a member of Iran’s Supreme Council for Cultural Revolution, said, “We have to make our presence felt in the conflicts in America that involve blacks and people of color. There is fertile ground for this … America is the kind of country that will disintegrate quickly … There are layers of hatred, alienation and estrangement there … We need to send out several thousands of surplus people [to do this].” Interestingly, Iran has now hosted an online vigil for George Floyd, leading some to speculate, did Iran play a role in turning peaceful protests seeking justice for a murdered African American man into nationwide race riots or are they merely capitalizing on it?
Meira Svirsky, the editor of the Clarion Project, recently noted, “Extremists in America (and outside the country) — from Antifa to white supremacists to Islamist radicals — thrive on the chaos created by every new upheaval. This time it’s the riots which are driving extremist groups to foster chaos.” The Clarion Project has documented how Antifada has utilized Bot Twitter accounts in order to incite violence. Similarly, the Anti-Defamation League wrote a report, demonstrating that Neo-Nazis have shown up at Black Lives Matter protests, where they have given Nazi salutes and shouted “Heil Hitler,” in addition to engaging in other hateful acts.
Iran has every incentive in order to re-orient the focus of the international community towards the national race riots in America, thus taking the spotlight off of them. Indeed, during the pandemic, human rights abuses continue unabetted in the Islamic Republic. In recent days, there has been a spike in the number of coronavirus cases in Iran.
Kaveh Taheri, a Turkey-based Iranian researcher and journalist, explained: “Thanks to Mullahs’ incompetence, the coronavirus rapidly spread across the country, even in the medieval prisons where thousands of dissidents are being jailed among those people who allegedly committed ordinary and extraordinary crimes. Of course, the inmates face a greater risk of catching Coronavirus than others. The regime, however, granted furlough to thousands of prisoners, including political activists and dissidents, and temporarily released 100,000 inmates; but there are thousands upon thousands prisoners who still serve imprisonment in the dire situation- with not enough and appropriate simple-disinfectants and sanitation, which can protect inmates from the virus. The price of detergents has risen five to tenfold, if only the inmates can afford it.”
As Syrian Kurdish dissident Sherkoh Abbas reported, “Iran executes Kurds every day. On a daily basis, they take women and children, and execute them in public squares.” Furthermore, a recent honor killing in Iran has sparked domestic debate about Iran’s antiquated legal system, raising awareness about gender inequality in the Islamic Republic among the Persian masses.
Iran sanctioning the race riots in America came after vandals attacked the Tomb of Queen Esther and her uncle Mordechai. Iranian political theorist Dr. Reza Parchizadeh blamed the Iranian government for that arson attack: “I have been to the Tomb of Esther and Mordechai in Hamadan. It is a beautiful structure dating back to the time of the Jewish Diaspora in Persia; and it is an indicator of the ancient roots of the Jewish people in Iran. The Islamists in Iran have been scalded by Israeli air raids against their bases and forces in Syria and Iraq, and there is nothing they can do about it on the ground. So, they give vent to their wrath towards Israel by vandalizing Jewish landmarks in Iran, thereby demonstrating their stark antisemitism.”
As the pandemic weakened Iran, the Islamic Republic has become even more aggressive against its adversaries. Mendi Safadi, who heads the Safadi Center for International Diplomacy, Research, Public Relations and Human Rights, stated that Iran and its proxies have increasingly been involved in the drug trade, which they are utilizing as a weapon against the Jewish state.
“The Lebanese border is a major axis for smuggling drugs into the State of Israel and in many instances, it is accompanied by spying among criminal elements in the Israeli Arab sector on behalf of Hezbollah,” he noted. “Since the Assad regime and Iran took control of Southern Syria, we see that there has been an increase in drug smuggling and production along the Jordanian border that reaches Saudi Arabia and the sale of drugs was reported in areas controlled by the regime via loyal merchants. There is evidence indicating that Hezbollah is assisting the militias loyal to the regime in producing captigon pills, which is a hazardous substance.”
“Arms and biological shipments enter into Syria from Iraq and Iran,” he noted. “It is produced in an Isfahan base and from there is flown to the Baghdad Airport. From there, it goes to a warehouse in Karbala, Iraq and from there, it is sent to the Deir Al Zor Airport and to the Bili Military Airport in Damascus. From the Bili Military Airport, seven cars that are similar in size to ambulances are sent and each one of them has a chemical and biological factor from which narcotics pills are produced, including a pill called a zombie that causes a person to lose control of his conduct and to disengage from reality in a dangerous way, which is added to other pills that are produced with this method.”
Aside from smuggling these dangerous narcotics into the Jewish state, Safadi also noted that Iran is also smuggling them to Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and the Gulf states, stressing that the pro-Iran militias receive 80% of their funding from the drugs and narcotics trade. Apparently, Iran is exploiting the pandemic to strengthen their influence over the drug trade in the Middle East region and this serves to weaken their regional adversaries, as they continue to wage human rights abuses against other countries. In other words, Iran was looking for ways to get back at Israel and its allies for their losses caused by the ever-increasing economic sanctions against Iran and the pandemic. Therefore, supporting these national race riots in America could potentially serve as a good outlet for that.
