Iranian Regime Deploys Snipers Against Demonstrators, Death Toll Crosses 100

Iranian Regime Deploys Snipers Against Demonstrators, Death Toll Crosses 100

The Iranian regime is using snipers and helicopter gunships to quell anti-regime protests, the media reports disclosed. People witnessed pro-regime sharpshooters firing at unarmed demonstrators, German newspaper Bild reported.

“Verified video footage show snipers shooting at people from rooftops,” the newspaper confirmed. “In at least one instance, a helicopter had been used for the shooting.”

“Verified video footage, eyewitness reports and information from activists outside Iran reveal a horrific pattern of illegal killings by the security forces,” the German daily added.

The protests, which began last Friday after the Islamic regime announced a threefold increase in fuel prices and imposed strict rationing on gasoline, have now erupted in over 20 cities, including Iran’s capital Tehran. The regime has blocked people’s access to the internet since Saturday, enforcing an information blackout on the country’s 80 million people.

UK newspaper The Independent reported the Iranian regime’s deadly quelling of protests:

Amnesty International reports that at least 106 people have been killed in 21 cities across Iran during nationwide protests ignited by a sudden hike in fuel prices.

The UK-based human rights organisation added that the actual death toll may be even higher, as unconfirmed reports have put the number as high as 200.

The United Nations also expressed concerns that a “significant” number of people may have been killed in the violent crackdown.

Experts say the numbers make sense, judging by the images that have emerged from the violent crackdown of protests by security forces in multiple cities.

Hosein Ghazian, an Iranian sociologist and pollster based in Washington, said that he trusts Amnesty and expects the death toll to be even higher than what has been reported. “Usually at protests everywhere around the world the actual number of people who get killed is higher than the number that gets verified,” Mr Ghazian told The Independent.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the regime’s military arm, threatened demonstrators with violence if they continued to challenge Tehran’s authority.

“If necessary we will take decisive and revolutionary action,” the Islamic Guard warned.

IRGC, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, used machine guns against unarmed students and civilians, media reported confirmed.

“A video showing the protests at Shiraz University show IRGC  gunmen opening fire at demonstrators with machine guns. Elsewhere, other videos show Basij militia’s snipers shooting the protestors from government building rooftops,” Radio Free Europe reported.

With IRGC gunning down people on the streets, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani declared “victory” over the widespread unrest. “Rouhani claims victory against ‘enemy’ after crackdown,” BBC reported.

106 protesters in 21 cities were killed over the course of the protests in Iran. Hundreds of people have been injured & more than a thousand arrested. We should all stand with the Iranian people who desperately want a better life away from the Iranian regime. #FreedomForIran

— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) November 20, 2019

The sudden move by the oil-rich regime to ration gasoline and hike fuel prices is a direct result of President Donald Trump’s strategy of “maximum pressure” against Tehran. While the regime thrived under the Obama administration, which handed billions of dollars to Tehran for signing the nuclear deal, the current administration has reinstated stiff sanctions against the ruling Mullahs.

After President Trump withdrew the U.S. from the 2015 deal, the sanctions have crippled Iran’s state-run oil, shipping, and banking sectors. The U.S. government implemented the sanctions against the regime’s top brass and the IRGC, which controls critical sectors of the Iranian economy.

DC-based Foreign Policy journal, usually critical of the U.S. president and his policies, admitted that “Iran protests suggest Trump sanctions are inflicting serious pain.” The policy journal highlighted the context behind the surging unrest triggered by the “dire condition of the Iranian economy” being “hammered by U.S. sanctions:”

The latest explosion of popular protest in Iran began on Friday after the government rescinded fuel subsidies, which essentially tripled the price of gasoline—a painful blow to millions of ordinary Iranians already struggling to survive a debased currency, high unemployment, and a shrinking economy. But the demonstrations that began over fuel subsidies quickly became a sweeping, nationwide protest against the Iranian regime itself, with outbreaks in dozens of cities in every Iranian province, targeting especially government buildings such as police stations and state-owned banks.

The government’s response has been much more brutal than in previous outbreaks of protest, such as in 2017-2018, including a near-total shutdown of the internet and unrestrained use of violence by security forces. Groups including Amnesty International have documented at least 106 deaths during the protests, as regime security forces have used live ammunition to target demonstrators. The brutal crackdown is both evidence of the regime’s desperation at its own inability to sway popular opinion and a result of watching weeks of similar deadly protests (also directed against Iran) in Iraq and Lebanon.

In the ongoing standoff between the White House and the Iranian regime, the European Union and Democratic Party have sided with the Mullah of Iran.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is instrumental in creating the EU-Iran trade mechanism, a payment system that allows European governments and businesses to keep trading with Iran by bypassing of U.S. sanctions. French President Emmanuel Macron has offered $15 billion in credit to Tehran to save the fledgling regime.

Closer to home, former Secretary of State John Kerry has reportedly been busy advising the Iranian regime on how to maneuver around the current U.S. policy. Almost all Democratic candidates are in favor of restoring the Obama-era deal with Iran.

Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden has accused President Trump of “walking away from diplomacy” by pulling out of the deal with the Islamic regime that guns down its own people in broad daylight and fiances jihad terrorism worldwide.

Bernie Sanders declared he “would re-enter the agreement on day one of my presidency.” Elizabeth Warren, Pete Buttigieg, and Kamala Harris have echoed similar views.

[Cover image via YouTube]

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