'I will continue to fight tyranny,' says former IRGC commander

GVF — State-sponsored plainclothes forces gathered in front of the home of former top Revolutionary Guards commander Hossein Alaei, spraying paint on the walls of his residence and chanting scornful slogans against the influential figure.

The recent act of defacement came just days after the former IRGC Navy Chief & Brigadier General, compared Iran’s Supreme Leader with the late Shah who was ousted from power following the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution. Despite the fact that Alaei made no explicit mention of Khamenei, the recent attacks levelled against him leave little doubt that the leader and his supporters see themselves as the intended recipients of Alaei’s comments, which appeared in the Ettelaat daily last Monday.

The heavily guarded Kolahdouz housing complex, where the act of vandalism occurred on Saturday, is home to a number of senior IRGC officials. The fact that the two buses packed with Khamenei’s supporters were able to enter the area and vandalise Alaei’s residence gives rise to speculation that the attacks had been coordinated by or had the blessing of the authorities.

The semi-official Fars news agency, which is affiliated with the IRGC, showed the building defaced with slogans pronouncing “Death to the hypocrite.” The building had also been plastered with a slogan that read “Death to those against Velayat Faghigh” (Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei).

Some brandished posters reading, “Having been a revolutionary isn’t important, what’s important is staying a revolutionary”; “General, wake up!” and “Death to the seditionists.” “Seditionist” is a term used by authorities to refer to the opposition Green Movement, which emerged following the fraudulent presidential elections of June 2009.

“We demand that Mr Hossein Alaei … be expelled immediately from the Kolahdouz complex,” read one placard.

Initially, Alaei’s article appeared to be in response to a call by dissident filmmaker and writer Mohammad Nourizad for prominent Iranian figures to bombard the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei with critical letters. Nourizad, whose own seventeen open letters have questioned Khamanei’s conduct in the past two years, urged the retired admiral as well as fifteen other influential individuals to send similar letters to the Islamic Republic’s highest authority. 

“The wrongful behaviour of the Shah’s security forces had amplified the people’s dissatisfaction with the monarchy and helped maintain it,” the retired admiral had written. “As the number of people killed on the streets, imprisonments and political prisoners rose, the Shah’s regime essentially lost its grandeur too.”

The article’s infuriated Iran’s hardliners. One pro-government website calling Alaei a “hyena” who had attempted to discredit the Islamic Revolution by comparing it to the Pahlavi Dynasty. A letter signed by twelve current commanders of the IRGC accused the admiral of having ungraciously “insulted” Khamenei.

“Look around you, in which camp do you find yourself and whom have you become aligned with?” the generals asked. “You are engaged in clawing [the] honourable image [of Khamenei] and provoking doubts about [his] blessed path. Who do your undeserving [comments] about the Islamic Revolution and its wise leader really please? On the other hand, look and see, who are the people that buy into your affronting claims.”

“Take a step backwards and examine the impact your article and viewpoints has on the media of the camp of global blasphemy, imperialism, hypocrisy and Zionism,” the IRGC commanders wrote.

The letter went on to add, “Our pain stems from the enemy’s satisfying grin, as the enemy feels it has been able to take someone from the camp of righteousness as captive.”

Meanwhile, Alaei responded to the joint letter by saying in a statement that he would “stand firm in the straight path.” “Just as I have spent my whole life opposing tyranny … God willing, I will continue to stand firm in the straight path.”

Sources told the Green Voice of Freedom that the critical commander is under severe pressure from senior IRGC officials to denounce his earlier stance, nevertheless Alaei seems to be determined to stand firm in his position despite the besiegement of his house by hardliners.