Cartoon by Lisa Benson

Iranians now furious with Iran’s government

Toronto Sun: It isn’t only Canadians, and Canadians of Iranian origin, who are grief-stricken and angry now that Iran has admitted it blew Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752 out of the sky with a surface-to-air missile.

Iranians — in Iran — are heartbroken, given that most of the passengers were Iranians, or dual citizens of Iran.

And many are furious with their government now that it has acknowledged it was responsible for what it claims was an accidental missile launch.

This after lying for three days, calling it a “technical failure” of the aircraft and accusing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other western leaders and intelligence agencies of using “psychological warfare” against Iran, when they were telling the truth.

Within hours of Iran’s admission, it wasn’t only Trudeau, speaking on behalf of Canadians Saturday, saying he was “outraged and furious” following the admission.

Hundreds of angry students gathered outside Tehran’s Amir Kabir University, denouncing Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and condemning Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — in which assassinated Gen. Qassem Soleimani was a leading figure — which fired the missile.

As is the standard operating procedure with anti-government demonstrations in Iran, the protesters were quickly confronted by riot police armed with shields and batons, firing water canons into the crowd to disperse them.

This was the latest in a wave of anti-government demonstrations going back to November, in the largest popular revolt against the country’s theocratic rulers since the Islamic Revolution of 1979.

Set off by a surprise 50% hike in gas prices, Iranians accused Iran’s leaders of responsibility for the economic sanctions imposed on Iran because of their military intervention in foreign wars and sponsorship of terrorism.

According to Reuters, 1,500 demonstrators were killed by Iran’s security forces during these protests — including units of Soleimani’s Revolutionary Guard — with at least 7,000 more arrested.

As Iranian journalist and human rights campaigner Masih Alinejad described these protests in the Washington Post, which occurred weeks before Soleimani’s assassination:

“The protesters had harsh words for Soleimani and his foreign adventures, chanting against Iran’s involvement in Syria and its support of Hezbollah. That came as a shock to the regime, which portrays Soleimani as … Khamenei’s adopted son.”

To be sure, opposition to Soleimani does not translate into support for U.S. President Donald Trump’s targeted assassination of the Iranian general, as evidenced by the huge demonstrations at Soleimani’s funeral, and the fury they aimed at the U.S. over his death.

Soleimani was celebrated by Iran’s Shiite leaders and many Iranians as a hero for defeating Sunni-led ISIS and al-Qaida jihadists in Iraq and Syria.

But, as Alinejad also noted, Iran’s dictators orchestrated Soleimani’s funeral to project a false international image of Iranians united under their rule.

For example, the Iranian media is heavily controlled by the government, which shut down the Internet for five days during the anti-government demonstrations.

“The government … forced students and officials to attend (Soleimani’s funeral). It provided free transport and ordered shops to shut down … First-graders … were encouraged to cry for Soleimani.”

Many Iranians consider Soleimani a war criminal, Alinejad concluded, but western journalists tend to ignore them, thus re-enforcing the myth perpetrated by Iran’s leaders that Iranians are united behind them.