They demand the rights of the Arab ethnic majority the Khuzestan province. Over the last few days, residents of Ahwaz in Iran have been going through some troubles as the Iranian security forces cracked down on them for two days in a row. The clashes over the last two days ended in at least one person killed and dozens were wounded.
The regime in Tehran has been approaching the Arab Spring in a marked selective way. While Tehran supported the change in Egypt, it failed to be consistent with its “principled” position in Egypt. Many observers point their fingers at Iran’s double standards in supporting the Syrian regime in the latter’s war against the Syrians. And yet, Iran is in self-denial! Iranian leaders are on record accusing the West as the main instigators of the protests in Syria.
If anything, Iran relies on proxies in the region to shore up Iran’s strategy. Now with its key proxy- Syria — is off balance, Iran feels the heat of the wind of change. For this reason, Iranian authorities control the flow of information to the people lest they rise up against the regime that just rigged elections. Tehran calls it the “soft war” with its opponents in the west.
Even though the Arabs of Iran are rising up seeking to realize their political rights in their provinces as they constitute a clear majority in these places. These events and activities were organized through the social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter. Iranian Minorities’ Human Rights Organization issued a statement in which it said that the Iranian authorities have deployed agents in different public places to watch the deteriorating situation in Ahwaz. On activists, Jamal Ahmed claimed that the Iranian forces have killed some ten people since the beginning of the clashes on Friday.
The Iranian regime has resorted to the security approach to nip in the bud the emergence of ethnic revolution and massacres, according to Ahwazi Center for Human Rights.
The Center called on the international community and international organization to do what it takes to put an end to what he terms “massacres in Ahwaz.” Iran’s response to the sudden outbreak of the riots was outrageous, according to observers. In addition to killing protesters, authorities launched n arrest campaign and sporadically cut off electricity and water from residents of Ahwaz city.
The opposition movements organized the “Day of Rage” to mark the anniversary of what was termed the “April 15 Uprising” of 2005. Back then, it was transpired that the central government in Tehran was designing a blueprint to change the demographic chart of Ahwaz hoping to render the Arab residents a minority. The leak of this scheme triggered an uprising in April 2005.
During Hashemi Rafsanjani’s terms as president of Iran (1989-1997) he revived an old plan that aimed to confiscate Arabs’ land in order to push them live in big cities. During this period, the Iranian authorities did confiscate land and pushed Arabs to live in cities. Therefore, Arabs became impoverished for two reasons: The eight-year war between Iraq and Iran and the confiscation of land. This policy was implemented in both Abadan and Ahwaz. All along, the Iranian authorities killed Arabs who opposed to this policy that was mounted to “ethnic cleansing.”
This policy has enraged the Arab society in Arabstan and particularly intellectuals. The continuation of this discriminating policy against the Arabs has created an environment of the April 2005 uprising. Indeed, Iran does not only have a problem with the Arab majority of Ahwaz but with other minorities who called for a revolution. Kurds, Baloch, and Turkmen also constitute ethnic minorities in Iran. It is well known that Arabs of Ahwaz are deprived of using media and heavily suppressed by the central government in Tehran.
Observers have long argued that Tehran will have to face some internal discontent. When President Mahmoud Ahmedinajad was elected last time, elections were rigged and a green revolution ensued. The repression of the revolution had changed the political environment in Iran. For the first time, the regime was exposed and the revolutionaries proved to be as divided as any other revolution.
Now, given the Arab Spring and events in Syria, Iran fears any domestic discontent lest it would give ammunition to Iran’s external foes. And yet, the regime failed to do anything that could placate the wider population who view the tsunami and winds of change blowing in the Middle East. For Iran, a crackdown on Ahwaz would for sure expose Iran’s sectarian double-standards and would threaten internal stability amid a changing region.