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According to ARD expert Uwe Lueb, the attack on the symbolic 40th day of the protest was actually blamed on IS and not the mullahs’ regime.
40 days ago, the 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini died in Iran after being arrested by the vice squad for not wearing her headscarf properly. The nationwide protests have not died down since then. In Amini’s hometown of Shaghes in the Kurdish region in the northwest of the country, around 10,000 people flocked to her grave on Wednesday despite the access roads being closed.
In Iran, people traditionally mourn the death of a family member for 40 days. Activists had again called for nationwide protests on the occasion of the day of mourning. Eyewitnesses and human rights organizations reported shots being fired at the crowd, but nothing is known about injuries or deaths, as ARD correspondent Uwe Lueb explains in Istanbul.
Attack on pilgrimage site in the west
As for the bloody attack on a pilgrimage site early Wednesday evening in the city of Shiraz, which killed at least 15 people, there is apparently no connection with the protests, says Lueb. Shortly thereafter, the terrorist organization Islamic State IS claimed responsibility. So Sunnis of the IS, who consider the Shiite followers of Islam in Iran as apostates.
Legend:
The attack on the Shah Cheragh shrine in southern Shiraz on Wednesday evening claimed at least 15 lives and injured dozens. Two of the three attackers who opened fire on the pilgrimage site from a car were arrested.
Keystone/AP/ISNA/Mohammadreza Dehdari
However, the IS is more likely to carry out such attacks in Afghanistan, which is not particularly common in Iran. Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi condemned the attack and announced a consistent response.
There is a suspicion
Nevertheless, there are rumors on social media that Shiraz’s attack was staged by the state. Some time ago, computer hackers published lists of measures taken by the security forces and the Revolutionary Guard to contain the protests.
Among other things, it talks about the fact that “internal forces might have to be sacrificed” in order to distract from the protests. “But after the IS confession, I would now rule out that the state leadership had anything to do with the attack,” says Lueb.
Demands for 40 days of protest
In the meantime, the demonstrations are about the big picture, a new state, says ARD correspondent Uwe Lueb about the ongoing protests: “The demonstrators no longer want to be satisfied with reforms. They want another state, a secular republic.”
The rejection of the theocratic system with the overriding role of religion perhaps unites the protesters. However, the groups – Republicans and monarchists alike – do not agree on the future form of government, should it ever come to that.