General Mohammad Ali Jafari, the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, has warned that the “enemy” is planning “street disturbances and social protests” around the upcoming parliamentary elections.
On Sunday Jafari said the IRGC has information showing that these disturbances have been planned for a long time.
“They want to create disturbances and resuscitate the sedition," Jafari said. “And by showing and focusing on the confrontation of protesters with the regime, they want to distort the popular image of the regime in the Islamic world.”
The Iranian establishment refers to the elections protests of 2009, which were triggered by allegations of fraud in the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, as “sedition.”
The IRGC has expressed concern about the possibility of protests during the parliamentary elections, fearing that this time they could spread to smaller towns. The 2009 protests were concentrated in major cities.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei has expressed concern that the elections could once again challenge national security. He has called on “the people, officials, the clergy and political activists to heed anti-security challenges and the efforts of the enemies” during the elections.
Iran’s parliamentary elections are set for March 2012.
