Mullahs’ regime paranoid reaction over setting Khomeini’s picture on fire

NCRI, 19 December 2009 – Following the Friday prayer congregation in Tehran, the mullahs’ regime put on a hollow show of force in the streets of Tehran in which members of Bassij and other regime affiliated organizations chanted threatening slogans against antigovernment protesters who had set Khomeini’s picture on fire.
During the uprising of 16 Azar, December 7, Iranian youth displayed their indignation toward the mullahs’ regime by tearing up, trampling on and setting on fire Khomeini’s pictures. Following the protests, the State television aired footage showing the tattered remains of a portrait of Khomeini that had been defaced during the protest.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Sunday that the incident showed that the protests following the disputed reelection of Ahmadinejad now sought to overturn the regime. He said enemies of Khomeini were “so encouraged that they came to the university and insulted the Imam’s picture.”
“Insulting the Imam, insulting Imam’s picture is no small thing. This made the enemies very happy. It’s not only happiness, they analyze this too and make decisions based on that analysis,” he lamented.
The footage was aired as an attempt to blame the rival faction and force it into submission, and, at the same time, was meant to terrify the public through a propaganda war.
Experts believe, however, that by broadcasting the images of Khomeini’s picture on fire, the regime committed a major blunder as it meant that a taboo had been broken, signaling a dramatic escalation of the protests which now have targeted the regime in its entirety. Parliament speaker Ali Larijani tried to downplay this mistake by saying that “that heinous event broadcast widely by the state TV, had nothing to do with the students.”
Ironically, the state-orchestrated uproar over this incident demonstrates the vulnerability of a regime on its last legs. The situation is so dire that Khamenei couldn’t even unify various fractions of the regime over this issue and failed to bring anyone to the government-organized street demonstrations. Only a number of clerics and seminary students as well as Revolutionary Guards members and the Ministry of Intelligence agents attended the rallies.
This marked the failure of Khamenei’s religious pretenses and demagoguery that have been the target of the Iranian people’s slogans such as “Neither Gaza, nor Lebanon, my life for the defense of Iran.” The underlying principle of the velayat-e faqih (absolute supremacy of clerical rule) has been undermined permanently and Khamenei’s desperate efforts cannot reverse the trend toward the regime’s overthrow by the Iranian people.
This is all the more obvious, because during the last 6 months, the regime has played its last cards in maximizing crackdown, but to no avail. Additionally, according to a multitude of reports, the continuous state of high alert and the stress resulting from the public’s vociferous hatred toward the regime, the Bassij force and the Revolutionary Guards have grown increasingly frustrated and despondent to a point where officials are rushing to prevent a wave of resignations and to boost the morale of the repressive forces.