On January 20, 2016, Khamenei said, “They constantly threaten the revolutionary youth under the guise of [confronting] extremism. When it is time to defend our national identity by giving our lives and shedding our blood, they are the ones who do that. At the same, the depth of understanding and wisdom of our revolutionary youth are much better and deeper than those of many high officials. They are defenders of the revolution and Islam.”

Self-Defeating Support

Ever since the founding of the Islamic Republic, preserving the system of velayat-e-faqih (guardianship by jurist, that is, the supreme leader) has been entrusted to the Basij militia and other radical groups. Generally speaking, most dictatorial regimes make their social presence known “vertically,” and crack down on their opposition. But the Islamic Republic, in addition to its vertical repression, is also present “horizontally” in Iranian society. The Basij militia has branch offices everywhere—in schools, universities, governmental organs and mosques, in urban and rural areas alike. The Basij forces in each neighborhood consist of people who live in the same neighborhood, and so know every local resident.

The Islamic Republic has granted many benefits to those who work for the Basij. But members of the Basij also understand the Islamic Republic’s need and reliance on the radical forces, which gives them relative leeway for their behavior. This independence sometimes leads to their taking actions that have not been coordinated with other government organs. But, because they are linked to the security and intelligence forces, these forces also understand and recognize the system’s impassable red lines. Even then, they sometimes take actions for which the people and even the Islamic Republic as a whole must pay a heavy price.

But whereas the Islamic Republic punishes the opposition severely—such as, for example, the house arrest of the Green Movement’s leader Mir Hussein Mousavi, his wife Dr. Zahra Rahnavard and former Majles speaker Mehdi Karroubi—it has never punished the radical forces meaningfully, even after they attacked Tehran University’s dormitories in July 1999, when they tried to assassinate leading reformist strategist Dr. Saeed Hajjarian in 2000, when they attacked Majles deputy Ali Motahhari last year, or when they attack music concerts, musicians and other artists. The latest of such attacks was protesting a gathering attended by Fatemeh Motamed-Arya, an award-winning actress, in Kashan, a city southwest of Tehran. The protesters tried to disrupt the gathering, calling Motamed-Arya profane names. Ayatollah Abdolnabi Namazi, the hard-line Friday prayer imam of Kashan and a member of the Assembly of Experts, called Motamed-Arya’s participation a great disaster because she supposedly did not wear a proper Islamic head covering, and declared that “Kashan cannot tolerate such festivities.” Iranian artists rushed to defend Motamed-Arya and condemn the attackers.

Ali Jannati, the minister of culture and Islamic guidance, condemned the attacks, adding that “our hands are tied. These people [the attackers] are influential with a lot of power, and rely on their backers to do such things. We cannot even hold music concerts in some cities.”

The reason, as Khamenei sees it, is that the same forces will defend his rule and the clerics’ when his regime is threatened. The police and judiciary support the radical groups on the direct order of Khamenei.

Foreign government are interested only in their own national interests, which is why they view such groups and what they do only in the context of the foreign policy of the Islamic Republic. The attacks on foreign embassies are a good example.

But Iran’s national interests, dignity and respect are what matters to the Iranian people. These are the same forces that put down the Green Movement. Almost everything that they do in Iran is targeted toward eliminating the competitors and preserving their own power. The recent attacks on Saudi Arabia’s embassy in Tehran should be viewed in this context.

The judiciary has arrested Hassan Kordmihan, the leader of the vigilante group that attacked the Saudi embassy. He is a cleric who was active in the presidential campaign of Tehran mayor Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf, an IRGC brigadier general, in June 2013. He has also participated in the war in Syria. He and his group had a private meeting with Khamenei in December 2009, during which Khamenei praised him profusely and told him, “I am aware of the set of activities that you have been undertaking. It is like a spring that keeps producing water. The activities of the government, despite high costs, may or may not bear fruits, but your cultural activities are like a spring.”

Ayatollah Khamenei is well aware and experienced enough to know that attacking foreign embassies in Tehran exacts a heavy price on his nation, the Iranian people and even his own regime. But to him, the survival of the regime has the highest priority, and he believes that the Basij and other Islamic vigilante groups are the only ones that will ultimately defend him and his regime. The trouble is that the same groups have also created complex problems for the nation at the international level, exposing it to serious threats.

Akbar Ganji is an Iranian investigative journalist and dissident. He was imprisoned in Tehran from 2000 to 2006, and his writings are currently banned in Iran. This article was translated by Ali N. Babaei.

Image: Wikimedia Commons/Shabodin Vajedi