Iran: Qassem Soleimani First Death Anniversary

Former head of IRGC admits the eliminated top terrorist, Soleimani, was a key figure in suppression in Iran

The former head of the IRGC Quds Force, Qassem Soleimani, was killed by a United States air attack in Baghdad on January 3, 2020. Qassem Soleimani was directly involved in the violent crackdown on Iran’s student protests in 1999 and nationwide protests in 2009, according to the former commander of the notorious Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), Mohammad Ali Jafari.

As commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Qods Force, Soleimani was Iran’s main architect of a network of state and non-state allies in the region to expand the Islamic Fundamentalism influence.

With the first anniversary of Soleimani’s death days away, state-run media in Iran is full of stories portraying Soleimani as an Iranian hero and an international Islamic hero. But as Iranian officials and regional groups close to the mullahs’ regime praise Soleimani, information on Iran’s military and financial support for groups such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Palestine is leading to criticism from the main Iranians opposition, the  People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI / MEK Iran), and the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) to the regime.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah declared in an interview on December 27 that Qassem Soleimani was instrumental in providing large amounts of money from Iran’s to Hezbollah, in addition to weapons and missiles. Estimates of Iran’s past financial assistance to the group range from $500-700 million annually, although Iran’s current ability to provide money is restricted given its dire financial situation resulting from corruption and US sanctions.

Hassan Nasrallah disclosed that after the 33-day war with Israel in 2006, Iran paid for one year the rent and living expenses of 200,000 families whose homes had been destroyed or damaged by Israeli attacks. The fact that Iran paid up to $30,000 to families in 2006 has long been public knowledge, but the cost of the assistance is staggering: If the average handout to each family was $20,000, in a country of 4 million people, Iran spent at least $4 billion dollars that went mainly to the Shiite community.

MEK Iran: The terrorist Hezbollah, and their masters in Iran, should be a “wake-up call on Hezbollah’s death grip on Lebanon”.

In an interview also on December 27, with mullahs regime, state-run Arabic news channel Al-Alam, Mahmoud Al-Zahar, a founding member of Hamas, said Soleimani had passed him suitcases containing $22 million during a visit to Tehran in 2006 as foreign minister in the Palestinian administration of prime minister Ismail Haniyeh.

This led to a hashtag saying “Suitcases full of dollars” in Persian tweets and social media, criticizing the mullahs’ regime for caring more about non-Iranian groups in the Middle East than its own population.

The page headline reads, “Defiant youth tear down, torch the eliminated IRGC’s terrorist Quds force chief Qassam Soleimani’s posters, displaying Iranian people’s disgust and loathing at the regime and the IRGC- January 11 and 12, 2020”.

During anti-government protests, Iranian people on the streets chanted slogans against sending money to Hezbollah, Hamas, Yemen’s Houthis, and against spending resources in Syria to help keep President Bashar al-Assad in power. Iranian critics bemoan unemployment and poverty in the country, demanding money be spent on Iran’s citizens.

Living standards have plummeted since 2018(link is external) mainly due to US sanctions, with ordinary Iranian workers earning $100-150 a month, which is inadequate for basic necessities. With oil exports reduced significantly since US sanctions were imposed in mid-2018, Iran’s assistance to regional allies and proxies has declined.

It was also well-known that the Soleimani was in charge of the suppression of protests in Iraq, Syria, and Iran in the months before his death, as well as the murder of dissidents abroad including members of Mujahedin-e Khalq (PMOI / MEK Iran), so why would the Iranian people be sorry about his death?

MEK Iran (follow them on Twitter and Facebook)

and People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran – MEK IRAN – YouTube