IN VIEW of widespread anti-government protests in Iran, the Bishop of Chelmsford, Dr Guli Francis-Dehqani, is praying for a “peaceful resolution that will lead to justice and freedom”.
On Thursday night, it was reported that the internet had been shut down across Iran, as protests continued for a 12th successive day. A Norway-based NGO, Iran Human Rights, has said that at least 45 protesters, including eight children, had been killed in that time.
Dr Francis-Dehqani, who was born in Iran and had to flee the country after the 1979 revolution, said that the protests “appear to be primarily in response to the economic pressures under which people are living”.
The country’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on Friday that the regime “will not back down”. In a televised speech, his first since the protests began, he said that the protesters were “people whose job is only about destruction”.
Galloping inflation in Iran has meant that food prices have risen 70 per cent over the past year. On Friday, after Ayatollah Khamenei’s speech, the country’s Supreme National Security Council, in a statement, acknowledged that “market instability” had started the protests, but blamed foreign governments for exacerbating the unrest.
Footage posted on social media appears to show images of Ayatollah Khamenei being torn down amid crowds of protesters. Despite the internet blackout, and tight controls on Iranian media, images showed that protests have spread across the entirety of the country, The Guardian reported on Thursday.
The protests, Dr Francis-Dehqani said, “will raise hopes for many about the possibility of a regime change”, but were being met with “the inevitable brutal response from the authorities. There is no doubt that the current administration appears to be in its final throes and fighting for survival, though it’s impossible to predict the timing. Whether the end will be soon, or is still some way off, no one can say. The real question for Iran is what will follow. My prayers are for a peaceful resolution that will lead to justice and freedom.”
Dr Francis-Dehqani’s father, the Rt Revd Hassan Dehqani-Tafti, was the first Persian Bishop of Iran. The family moved to England after the attempted assassination of Bishop Deqhani-Tafti, and the murder of his son, Bahram, during the early days of the Islamic Republic, which deposed the last Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
The last Shah’s son, Reza Pahlavi, who lives in exile in the United States, has sought to play an active part during the protests, calling for co-ordinated action to overthrow the regime.
Mr Pahlavi, who styles himself as Crown Prince, has called for a democratic transition in Iran, with a referendum to decide the future governance of the country. It remains unclear how much support he has in Iran, where his father’s rule is remembered by many as cruel and oppressive.
This week, President Trump claimed that Ayatollah Khamenei was making plans to flee the country. President Trump has also threatened military intervention over the killing of protesters, although, when asked about the reported killings in an interview on Thursday, he suggested that they might have been killed in a “stampede”.
“I’m not sure I can necessarily hold somebody responsible for that,” President Trump said, but Iran’s leaders had been told that, if they killed protesters, “they’re going to have to pay hell.”
Speaking to reporters on board Air Force One on Monday morning, President Trump said: “The leaders of Iran called, they want to negotiate. I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States. A meeting is being set up. But we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting.”
The US-based Human Rights Activist News Agency, which is compiling data on the protests, said on Sunday that 544 people had died and more than 10,000 people had been imprisoned following arrest.
This story was updated on 13 January