KurdistanObserver.com

Senior Iran Cleric Tells Government To Stamp Out Kurdish Unrest  


Tehran, Iran, Iran Focus- Aug. 11 – One of Iran’s high profile clerics has warned the government that he would take matters into his own hands unless the authorities stamp out anti-government protests in the province of Kurdistan, northwest Iran.

“A number of counter-revolutionaries and foreign mercenaries, along with individuals coming from Turkey, have attacked our State Security Forces and Revolutionary Guards and martyred them”, Hojjatol-Islam Gholamreza Hassani was quoted as saying by Iran’s state-owned newspapers on Thursday.

“One of the attacks by troublemakers on a border post martyred four of our forces and in anther attack on an outpost two soldiers were martyred after anti-tank missiles were fired at them. A number of troublemakers left 35 military personnel injured when they attacked them with sticks and clubs”, Hassani, the Friday prayers leader of the city of Orumieh and the personal representative of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in Western Azerbaijan Province, said.

“I warn the officials in charge to contain the troublemakers and the counter-revolutionaries and not give them any further opportunity for disturbances and trouble. If the authorities do not do this, I myself will wear my shroud of martyrdom and will lead volunteers to war against theses troublemakers and counter-revolutionaries. The authorities can then sleep”, the senior Shiite cleric said.

“Now is the time to stamp out troublemakers and counter-revolutionaries”, he said.

At least 20 Iranian Kurds have been shot dead by security forces in ongoing anti-government protests that have swept Iran’s Kurdish region since late July.