By Editors of The Free Iran Herald

Updates on events unfolding in Iran

Evidence is Mounting that Qassem Soleimani was Turned Over to the US by his Rivals in Tehran

According to confidential sources inside Iran, on the night of January 6th, 56 high-ranking IRGC officers, including the late Qods Force commander General Soleimani’s right-hand man in Iraq, were arrested. A further 34 IRGC officers were detained on the 8th.

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All 90 of these men were said to be personally loyal to Soleimani.

A source inside IRGC tells me that since yesterday evening, 56 of IRGC commanders have been arrested by the IRGC’s intelligence organisation. According to the source, knows as Haj Vahid,one of Soleimani’s most trusted in Iraq is missing since the strike on Soleimani. — Raman Ghavami (@Raman_Ghavami) January 7, 2020

#Breaking

The source just told me that 34 more commanders by the IRGC’s intelligence organisation have been arrested.

“All of them were loyal to Qasem Soleimani”, the source says. This source is preparing to leave Iran.

This is turning into something very different. https://t.co/QqyWCEdlVJ — Raman Ghavami (@Raman_Ghavami) January 8, 2020

This news is increasing the speculation that Soleimani, who was known to act on his own initiatives, and who was being seen as a possible future dictator-in-waiting for Tehran, was betrayed to American intelligence by his own colleagues within the regime, who feared that he would deprive them of their power and privileges.

Additionally, information has surfaced that Soleimani, who had been personally leading the repression against the popular uprising in Iraq since October, had been planning a coup d’état in Baghdad that would have resulted in the assassination of the Iraqi president, and the seizing of the American embassy there.

What if the strikes were meant to stop a plan, this morning I was hearing from trusted sources close to the government leadership that they were worried of an Iranian backed plan by the Militias and Sulaimani to seize power and arrest the president and declare a new Iraqi norm. pic.twitter.com/BDt6Hkp0uF — Steven nabil (@thestevennabil) January 3, 2020

Thus, seen in this light of Soleimani’s out-of-control brazenness, and his growing unpopularity within his own Khomeinist clique, US President Donald’s Trump decision to kill him emerges as the de-escalatory move that he has presented it as, and one that will stimulate more infighting, and the consequent weakening of, the regime.

Though it presents a public face of being monolithic, the IRGC is riddled with factionalism and waves of purges. Last July, 125 IRGC officers were arrested and accused of plotting to overthrow the regime. In that regard, some observers are already judging the conference of regime-sponsored proxy militias that Tehran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei called together on Thursday, January 9th, (which featured representatives from Palestine’s Hamas, Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Yemen’s Houthis, Iraq’s Hashd al Shaabi, Afghanistan’s Fatemiyoun and Pakistan’s Zeinabiyoun) in order to unite them behind the new Qods Force commander, Esmail Ghaani to have already failed, because these forces had been personally built up by, and around, Soleimani, and their loyalties may not be so easily transferrable.

IRGC Shoots Down Ukrainian Airliner: Why?

Ukrainian International Airlines Flight PS752 crashed soon after taking off from Tehran on the morning of Wednesday the 7th. The crash, which occurred soon after the IRGC had filed missiles at two American military bases in Iraq, killed all 176 people onboard. Most of the passengers, 82 of them, were Iranians, while 63 were Canadian, as the flight was supposed to be connecting in Kiev with a Toronto-bound one. Video footage shows the plane instantaneously bursting into flames.

The regime claimed that the crash was accidental, but it refused to hand the plane’s black box over to its manufacturer, Boeing, to determine what had happened. Witnesses on the ground reported finding debris from an IRGC 9M331 missile at the crash site, indicating that the plane was shot down by one of the IRGC’s Russian-manufactured Tor-M1 air defense batteries.

#BREAKING: Eyewitness reports & wreckage of 9M331 missile found near #PS752‘s crash site prove that the Boeing 737-8KV of #Ukraine Airlines is shot-down by Tor-M1 SAM of #IRGC|ASF located in a ballistic missile research facility of #IRGCASF! They mistook it with a #USAF airplane! https://t.co/4zu7TGEe3x pic.twitter.com/wlNyORe1Ip — Babak Taghvaee (@BabakTaghvaee) January 9, 2020

American government sources later confirmed that US espionage satellites had captured images of the missiles impacting the airliner. Speculation has now commenced as to why the IRGC attacked this airplane. Some are simply assuming that the IRGC personnel might have thought the plane was a US fighter jet, and fired on it in error. Others are wondering whether this was a disguised form of retaliation for the killing of Soleimani. Still others are questioning whether this incident might be related to Ukraine-Tehran economic relations.

Ukraine is a key trading partner of the Tehran regime, and its aviation industry, in particular, has helped Tehran avoid sanctions and acquire banned weapons technology, by sneaking them onboard Kiev-Tehran commercial flights. Now that Kiev’s new Zelensky administration, under pressure from the US to seriously crackdown on corruption and organized crime, seems willing to tackle mafia groups that the Khomeinist regime has been doing business with, one can wonder whether or not the IRGC was sending a threatening message to Ukraine by shooting down their airplane.

Repression and Unrest Continuing in Iran, While Western Liberal Media Only Amplify Khomeinist Propaganda

Despite the martial law atmosphere prevailing in Iran, there are people still attempting to protest, and activists are being arrested. On Sunday, December 29th, eight were detained in Tehran on charges of attempting to organize a demonstration, while three more were arrested on the same charge in Esfahan. The day before, 26 people were arrested in several Iranian cities for having participated in the November protests.

The repression took a new turn after Soleimani’s death. The public prosecutor of the city of Shahreza, outside of Esfahan, declared that saying derogatory things about Soleimani amounted to “blasphemy,” and announced that four Esfahanis had been arrested for making anti-Soleimani posts on social media. On January 4th, the editor of the regime’s own Khabar News website was summoned to court for writing that Soleimani was killed, instead of “martyred,” while a journalist in the western city of Paveh, named Mozafar Validbeygi, was also arrested for the same choice of words.

Some Iranians did brave the IRGC to display their joy over Soleimani’s death. On January 4th, in Ahvaz, locals burned a banner bearing his image, while a hall that was supposed to devoted to a regime-mandated mourning ceremony had to be closed after crowds started booing the memory of the Qods Force commander and cheering his death.

Jan. 4, Ahvaz, SW #Iran

Locals burn a large banner with an image of the dead Qods Commander, Qasem Soleimani. pic.twitter.com/4aFEuFzeJl — Dr. Lucas (@Laaask2) January 6, 2020

From Last night, ppl have ruined the poster of Ghasem Soleimani by writing “ Down with Khamenei” on it. pic.twitter.com/gzc4eHzmRW — Sara (@saraghavamian) January 7, 2020

In an attempt to show that Soleimani was revered in Iran, the regime, as per its usual practice, staged a demonstration at Soleimani’s funeral in Ahvaz by busing in many IRGC and Basij militia personnel, dressed in plainclothes, and their families, as they could, while also offering free food and transportation to the starving poor in various Iranian municipalities. Independent analysists studying footage of the IRGC’s rent-a-crowd showed that it could not have numbered more than 90,000, but regime media falsely claimed that “millions” had gathered.

For those who don’t know how #Iran‘s Islamic Regime managed to bring 100,000 people to streets of #Ahvaz & #Mashhad to take part in funeral of #Soleimani. These are all personnel of #IRGC & #Basij militia members & their families. #IRGC bases were almost empty across #Iran! pic.twitter.com/n3Hxt0dz6Z — Babak Taghvaee (@BabakTaghvaee) January 5, 2020

CNN is intentionally lying and claiming that #QassemSoleimani was an “Iranian Military Leader.” He was not. The official Military is the Iranian Army. Soleimani was a major general of the IRGC and commander of Quds Force, mafias of Ayatollahs and globally designated terrorists. https://t.co/jDjBNoQWC7 — Imam of Peace (@Imamofpeace) January 3, 2020

@CNN is such #fakenews it ain’t even funny. They’re saying hundreds of thousands of Iranians are in the streets protesting the killing of Qassem Soleimani. Regime brought a bunch of riff raffs out in the streets, suddenly its “nationwide and ongoing in 800 different cities”. 🙄 — Ahura Mazda 👑 🦁☀️ (@Ahura3) January 3, 2020

Congratulations to @nytimes and @meslackman! The state tv and media in Iran are showing @farnazfassihi‘s propagandistic tweets as proof for their false claims that millions of Iranians showed up at Soleimani’s funeral. Who is the real employer of Fassihi? NYT or IRIB? https://t.co/r7XN0RGJB6 — Amir Etemadi (@amiretemadi) January 6, 2020

If they live in dictatorship with all the force, propaganda and coertion ,handouts, thousands will show up. They have to. But not in a democracy like #US, but you are too dumb to understand the difference Michael Moore.@AlirezaNader @RBehrouzDO @BestWebEnglish @AlinejadMasih https://t.co/BY17jzNKKJ — mina bai (@bai_mina) January 9, 2020

Why anyone in his right mind would take this “tingle up my leg” moron seriously. He has always had a major problem differentiating his ass from a hole in the walk. https://t.co/9chhwW3fug — ManWithNoName (@ManWith49126688) January 9, 2020

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo: Supporting the Iranian People, and Rejecting Opportunistic Sects

While the Tehran regime, and western liberal media, ran wild with accusations that President Trump wanted to bomb Iranian cultural heritage sites, based on a mistaken interpretation of one Tweet, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo retorted with the facts that it is the Khomeinist regime itself who has been the biggest destroyer of Iran’s cultural heritage.

The United States was founded on tolerance. We have great respect for Persian history and its symbols, like Persepolis, Naqsh-e Jahan Square, and the Tomb of Cyrus. @khamenei_ir’s corrupt regime should listen to the people of #Iran. They want their culture and their country back. — Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) January 7, 2020

The United States was founded on tolerance. We have great respect for Persian history and its symbols, like Persepolis, Naqsh-e Jahan Square, and the Tomb of Cyrus. @khamenei_ir’s corrupt regime should listen to the people of #Iran. They want their culture and their country back. — Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) January 7, 2020

On Monday, Pompeo further displayed his keen awareness of Iranian issues by sending out a letter to all American diplomats asking them not to meet with six so-called Iranian opposition groups; most notably, the Islamic-Marxist sect, the Mojahedin’e Khalq (MEK), as well as four separatist groups seeking to dismember Iran. Activists inside Iran saw this a wise move, showing that the US authorities understand the difference between the real Iran opposition, and power-seeking opportunists.