A conservative newspaper in Tehran has questioned the government about why Russia's air defense, its ally, does not intervene to halt Israel's air strikes on Iranian targets in Syria.
In an article released on Saturday, the newspaper also blamed the high casualties among Syria-based IRGC forces in recent months on "the betrayal of infiltrators."
"Have Iranian officials asked themselves why Russia, which controls Syria's airspace, does not prevent the Zionist regime's crimes against Iranian forces with its advanced air defense systems? Why don't such incidents happen to Russian troops stationed in Syria?" Jomhouri-e Eslami (Islamic Republic) asked.
The daily further urged the Iranian government to review its security protocols in Syria and adopt preventive measures instead of issuing threats after the deadly assaults.
The Financial Times reported Thursday that suspected Israeli strikes have claimed the lives of 18 IRGC commanders and advisers since the Gaza war broke out on October 7. According to the report, all of the slain IRGC forces were targeted in Syria, with 16 in Damascus, one in Deir ez-Zor, and one in Baniyas.
Israel's Monday attacks against Iran's consulate building in Damascus have been the deadliest since the inception of the ongoing conflict in the region, killing seven IRGC forces, including Mohammad Reza Zahedi, the highest-ranking commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Quds Force (IRGC-QF) in Lebanon and Syria.
The recent attacks have sparked many reactions in Iran, where government officials have time and again vowed revenge against Israel but have fallen short of making a decisive move so far. On the other hand, public opinion, particularly among social media users, points to the regime's inability to retaliate against alleged Israeli strikes, further asserting that the power claimed and vaunted by Iranian officials is only employed to suppress civilian protesters inside the country.
Zeraati hosted Aliasghar Ramezanpour and Mehdi Parpanchi, Iran International TV editors in his popular program, “Last Word” aired on Friday.
In the beginning of the program, Zeraati expressed his gratitude to all the people who sympathized with him, further calling the Iranian people as his most important source of energy and inspiration.
“I am committed to the pact I made with the audience and the program’s path has not changed, regardless of what happened and what will be revealed in the future about the details of the incident,” he went on to say.
Zeraati was stabbed outside his residence in Wimbledon, south London, on March 29, and sustained injuries to his leg. He was discharged from hospital two days later.
According to a statement by the Metropolitan Police, the motive for the assault remains unclear. However, due to prior threats emanating from Iranian intelligence circles against Iran International journalists, the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command is spearheading the investigation. The police said the three suspects involved in the incident fled the UK shortly after the attack, which occurred just a few months after a plot by the Iranian regime to kill two other Iran International journalists was revealed.
According to Zeraati, he and his wife have been transferred to a safe-house under police supervision since he was discharged from hospital. “I insisted on coming to the studio and resuming my program after a weak of postponement and the London Police and Iran International security team cooperated to make it happen,” he said during his program.
Many human rights organizations, trade unions, political figures and civil activists condemned the assault on Zeraati and demanded that the perpetrators be identified and punished.
On Tuesday, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) issued a call to the Iranian regime urging an immediate halt to the targeting of journalists. Meanwhile, Freedom House, a Washington-based NGO, called on British authorities to investigate the stabbing attack on Zeraati as a possible act of transnational repression.
Speaking in the “Last Word” program, Aliasghar Ramezanpour and Mehdi Parpanchi emphasized that the network, despite all the threats of the Iranian government, will continue its professional activities to provide vitally needed information to Iranians, who live under widespread media and internet censorship.
Ramezanpour, executive editor of Iran International in London, said: “This kind of attacks and threats are not new to Iranian journalists. The Islamic Republic cannot tolerate courageous journalists who speak out.” Referring to the widespread repression of journalists inside Iran, he added that Tehran has been trying to apply the same policy to Iranian journalists abroad.
The attack on Zeraati was not the first threat against Iran International, but just as previous threats and pressures had no effect on the work of the network, there will be no change in operations now, Ramezanpour pointed out, stressing that governments in the free world are legally obligated to defend freedom of speech.
Iran International television network, based in London and Washington DC, broadcasts news and views 24/7 on satellite to audiences in Iran. In 2022, Iran International temporarily relocated its television broadcast from London to Washington, DC, after police found information about direct threats to two other journalists at the network.
An Austrian national named Mohammad-Hussein Dovtaev on February 13, 2023. He was detained while filming outside the network’s premises. Iran International resumed broadcasting from its new London headquarters on September 25, 2023.
Participating in “Last Word,” Parpanchi, executive news editor at the Washington DC office, condemned the attack on Zeraati as “an attack on free media and freedom of expression” and called on journalists across the globe to react, stand up for journalism and defend freedom of speech.
“Unfortunately, it must be said that the Islamic Republic’s threats will definitely continue its policies. The use of knives, machetes and swords is part of the essence and foundation of the Islamic Republic which has been founded upon bloodshed and has gotten used to it,” Parpanchi pointed out.
He emphasized that Iran International will employ every tool and means available in free countries to hold accountable those responsible for the attacks on its journalists.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, British rights organization ARTICLE 19 voiced extreme concern for the safety of journalists against the threats of the Iranian government.
“The authorities of the Islamic Republic have shown, time and again, that they have no hesitation in using every tool in their armory of repression – from the brutal and unlawful killing of protesters, arbitrary detention of journalists and human rights defenders, to exterritorial threats and operations against dissidents abroad – to maintain their tight grip on power and conceal the atrocities they commit from the eyes of the world,” warned Saloua Ghazouani, Director of ARTICLE 19 Middle East and North Africa Programme.
Iran’s state media quoted Safavi as saying that Russia has been able to consolidate its hold over occupied territories since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel that unleashed the Gaza war.
Ali Khamenei’s advisor also reiterated statements by other Islamic Republic officials that Israel is losing the Gaza war, and the United States is losing power and influence in the Middle East.
The leaders of the clerical, military government in Iran find themselves in an uncomfortable situation since April 1, when a precision Israeli air strike killed two top Revolutionary Guard generals and five other officers in Damascus. These individuals who were apparently in charge of Tehran’s war on Israel in Lebanon and Syria, were holding a meeting in one of the buildings in Iran’s embassy compound.
Although Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and other officials vowed revenge, many experts and observers believe Iran’s rulers are reluctant to undertake actions that could precipitate a wider war with Israel. But at the same time, they could lose credibility among their domestic followers and regional proxies, if they do not launch a military response.
Rahim Safavi highlighted apparent rifts between the Biden administration and the Israeli government, saying that “Differences have emerged even between the US President and the Zionist regime, to the extent that the American side has told Israel that if they don’t change their policies, America will have to change its approach.”
Israeli attacks have killed 18 senior IRGC officers since December, a trend that has become difficult to explain away by the Islamic Republic.
Aftab News, an agency close to more moderate factions in Iran, highlighted the dilemma the Iranian regime faces in the wake of the Israeli strike in Syria. In an analysis on Friday, the website wrote that previous threats of retaliation after Israel killed Iranian forces never materialized.
“It seems that a series of Israeli attacks on individuals and interests of the Islamic Republic, and the failure to fulfil the promise of ‘hard revenge,’ have increased dissatisfaction among its own forces. This dissatisfaction recently reached a peak with Israel's attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, leading to calls for a ‘decisive and swift response’ from various political spectra, especially the Revolutionary Guards,” Aftab News said.
However, numerous commentators in Tehran, who are allowed to speak to the government-controlled media, have urged a measured reaction to Israel's Monday attack, cautioning that the strike could be a ploy to draw Iran into direct conflict.
Others in Tehran argue that if the Islamic Republic fails to show a forceful response, Israel will become more emboldened and increase the intensity of its attacks. Mohammad Sadeq Kooshki is a professor in Tehran University who told Etemad News that if in the past 30 years Iran had shown reacted forcefully to Israeli provocations, today, it would be safer from attacks.
The Iranian regime is not just vulnerable because of Israeli strikes, but it has lost popularity among the majority of the people who have suffered from runaway inflation and overall economic regression. The danger of fresh unrest is ever present following repeated nationwide protests since 2017.
