Iran Raises Red Flag of Revenge
Iran has raised the Red Flag of Revenge over yet another holy shrine.
On Oct. 26, gunmen opened fire at the Shah Cheragh shrine in the city of Shiraz, killing at least 15 and wounding at least 40 others, according to VOA Persian.
In response to the attack, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed to retaliate against those responsible and raised the Red Flag of Revenge over the shrine, Reuters reported.
In statement, Khamenei said that the perpetrators “will surely be punished.”
“We all have a duty to deal with the enemy and its traitorous or ignorant agents,” the statement continued.
Then on Tuesday, a Red Flag of Revenge was reportedly seen flying over the Shah Cheragh shrine.
Reportedly, #Iranian Regime has raised a Red Flag (Flag of Reveng) above a Holy Shrine in the City of #Shiraz.
This is exactly what #Iran did, on the days before the Iranian Missile Attack on the #US Military’s Al-Asad Airbase in #Iraq. pic.twitter.com/GDlDYDcLK8— Conflict Watch PSF (@AmRaadPSF) November 2, 2022
According to the Sun, the blood red flag is a Shiite tradition that symbolizes the unjust shedding of blood and serves as a call to “avenge the person slain.”
In essence, the flag symbolizes a declaration of war by the government against its enemies.
It appears that something big is afoot in the Islamic Republic, and its leaders are terrified.
This is not the first time the Iranian government has issued this threat to its enemies. In January 2020, the Red Flag was raised over the Jamkaran mosque in the city of Qom, apparently threatening revenge for the killing of the terrorist Qassem Soleimani.
This latest attack and threat by the Iranian government comes amid weeks of unrest and protest in the country following the death of a 22-year-old Mahsa Amini at the hands of the Iranian morality police after she did not veil herself correctly.
While at first, this unrest may seem far-away and remote, this latest threat from the government should alarm people in the United States and the West.
For decades, the Iranian government has pursued a nuclear arsenal. In fact, in July, the U.S. special envoy to Iran said that the regime was “weeks away” from having enough uranium to create a nuclear warhead.
Recently, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard launched a satellite-carrying rocket, technology that many officials in the United States worry could be used to create a long-range missile.
This nuclear-hungry government is also one of the world’s worst offenders of human rights, as the recent protests have shown.
In October, Iranian forces opened fire on students protesting at Tehran’s Sharif University and laid siege to the school.
Meanwhile, international concern has been growing over the welfare of Iranian competitive climber Elnaz Rekabi, who returned to Iran early from a competition in South Korea after she competed without a hijab — the very issue that sparked the protests in the first place.
Iran is a rouge state, a pariah nation whose past threats and actions have isolated it from the community of respectable nations.
The recent protests have shown that the Iranian government is willing to use any means necessary, including military force, to defend itself against its own people when threatened.
By raising the Red Flag, the Iranian government has reiterated the hardline stance it takes against dissidents.
Imagine what a nuclear-armed Iran would be willing to do to foreign adversaries if these are the tactics they use against their own citizens. It has already been accused of providing the Russian government with UAVs to be used against civilian targets in Ukraine.
Given the volatile and unpredictable nature of the Iranian regime at this current time, perhaps the United States and other Western governments need to start putting real pressure on Iran to ensure that this hostile nation does not have the means to seriously threaten international security.
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