|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
(A7)) BBC has published a letter signed by numerous Iranian activists, both inside Iran and in other countries, expressing anger against the IRGC.
“No to warmongering!” the letter declares, and asserts that Iranians also see the emerging war as being more for the government than the country.
Iran has recently increased police presence in Tehran, under the guise of enforcing Islamic dress codes, itself a matter of controversy, but in reality working to quell any resistance to the regime.
Some graffiti has appeared on walls in Iranian cities – “Israel, strike the supreme leader’s [Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s] house,” reads one. “Israel hit them, they lack the courage to retaliate,” read another.
The government has posted its own messages on billboards – “Tel Aviv is our battleground, not Tehran,” reads one. Immediately after the IRGC attack, supporters of the Islamic Republic celebrated and a banner warning Israelis that “the next slap will be fiercer” was hung from a building in Tehran.
“I believe it was the right decision to attack Israel to prevent further killings of Iranian commanders in Syria and elsewhere,” one woman said in a voice message. Another said: “Iranians themselves are in a state of war with the current regime. We harbour no animosity towards any nation, including Israel.”
Due to economic struggles in their country, many Iranians see war as the worst possible state of affairs. Fears of a regional war have Iranians flooding supermarkets and gas stations to stock up on supplies.
Iranians have also begun posting the hashtag #IRGCterrorists to call for the international community to boycott the IRGC as a terrorist organization. Popular Iranian soccer player Ali Karimi, also based outside Iran, meanwhile posted a photo of intertwined hands overlaid with the Israeli flag and a previous version of the Iranian flag that was in use before the 1979 Islamic revolution.
“We are Iran, not the Islamic Republic,” he said.
