Tehran, Iran – Iranian officials have warned they will crack down on any anti-establishment internal protests as Israel and the United States threaten to further target the paramilitary Basij forces of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have said they want to topple the 47-year-old theocratic establishment in Iran. He asked Iranians to be vigilant in their homes and “be ready to seize the moment”.
If any Iranians take to the streets “at the will of the enemy,” police chief Ahmad-Reza Radan said on state television in a program aired Tuesday night that “we don’t see them as protesters or anything else; we see them as enemies, and that’s what we do with enemies.”
“All our boys are ready with fingers on triggers to defend their revolution, support their people and country,” he said.
It comes two months after thousands have died during nationwide protests against what Iranian authorities blame as “terrorists” backed by the US and Israel. The United Nations and international human rights organizations condemned state forces for the crackdown on peaceful protesters and the 20-day complete internet blackout.
Radon confirmed that police forces, along with the paramilitary Basij, had been patrolling the streets of Tehran and around the country “day and night” since the protests and the start of the US-Israeli war in Iran 12 days ago.
Basij forces regularly set up heavily armed checkpoints at various hours of the day, most of them on roads leading to or near headquarters and local bases of police, IRGC and other armed forces.
Footage broadcast by Iranian state media this week showed armored vehicles and masked security forces taking part in street rallies to avenge the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and warn against any anti-establishment sentiment.
Authorities have called on supporters to gather at mosques, with other footage showing armed Basij forces chanting slogans against the US and Israel while wielding assault rifles.
The Israeli military has so far refrained from directly targeting mosques, but this week it may turn to street-level killings as it threatens top Iranian officials.
State-affiliated Iranian media showed footage of a car bombing on a major road in daylight from a neighborhood in eastern Tehran on Tuesday. The state-affiliated Student News Network said four civilians were killed and others injured, including bystanders, but did not elaborate.
In another first during the war, an administrative building belonging to Bank Sepa, which houses the accounts of the armed forces, was hit by a missile in Tehran on Wednesday night.
Even though banks operate in a very limited capacity during the day during the war, bank staff are working extra shifts after midnight to sort out salaries, a state media reporter from the scene of the attack said. He said the number of casualties was “very high”, but did not elaborate.
Bank-related attack The IRGC’s Khatam al-Anbiya headquarters announced that the scope of Iranian attacks had now been expanded to include US and Israeli banking and financial interests across the region.
This week, the Israeli military indicated that a future phase of the conflict could target Basij forces more directly at lower levels.
A Farsi-language spokesman for the Israeli army released a video message directed at mothers of younger Basij and IRGC troops, saying they could protect their sons from airstrikes by persuading them to lay down their weapons.
“The ayatollahs and their henchmen are on the run – but those cowards have nowhere to hide,” Israel’s Netanyahu said in a statement to the Iranian people. “In the coming days, we will create the conditions to realize your destiny”.
In Tehran and other cities on Wednesday, the IRGC and other armed forces held funeral processions for commanders killed during the war. Several fresh airstrikes were reported in the capital in the afternoon.
Iranian officials say most of the more than 1,250 people killed during the war are civilians and have condemned the impact of intense US and Israeli bombing on homes, hospitals, schools and historic sites. The Israeli army said on Monday it had killed more than 1,900 military personnel and commanders, but did not comment on civilian casualties.
The war is the second in less than a year for more than 90 million Iranians, who are now suffering the 12th day of a total nationwide internet blackout imposed by their government. The intranet serves to keep essential services running and to help the state media stay in control of the flow of information.
Iranian state television continues to show anger and threats toward the US and Israel, but toward Iranians who may be perceived as aligning with them against the establishment.
After commentators branded members of Iran’s women’s football team “traitors” this week for refusing to sing the national anthem in protest, several of them were granted asylum in Australia.
Speaking on Wednesday, another state television anchor issued a broad threat against Iranians inside and outside the country who support the “global arrogance and liberalism” of the US, Israel and their Western allies, including those who support the US-born son of the former shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who also wants to topple the establishment.
“Confiscating your property is nothing, now we will make your mothers who have stupid ideas and think there is chaos, sit in mourning,” he said, referring to a judicial move to confiscate the property of diaspora Iranians opposed to the establishment.
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