“The enemy and the pagans should be treated harshly and mercilessly, and the system’s anatomist bandits need to be executed, and we won’t hesitate in doing so, since this is a rational security rule”, the official IRNA news agency quoted Hojjatoleslam Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi as saying in reference to recent widespread protests in Iran.
“When the Supreme Leader says something, obeying is obligatory”, said Pour-Mohammadi, a former Interior Minister.
Pour-Mohammadi’s comments come days after the Iranian authorities executed two individuals for their involvement in post-election unrest. Some analysts see comments by Pour-Mohammadi and other senior government officials as paving the way for further executions in the lead up to the 31st anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution.
The 11th of February has been targeted by the Iranian opposition movement as the day in which further widespread protests against Tehran's rulers will take place throughout Iran's major cities. Opposition sources say they expect large crowds to call for an end to clerical rule and its replacement with a democratic government. With this in mind, Pour-Mohammadi seems now to have drawn the battle lines for the days to come.
