Iranian Revolutionary Guards Mount Criticism against Rouhani

IRGC Deputy Commander Hossein Salami. (Fars news)
IRGC Deputy Commander Hossein Salami. (Fars news)
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Iranian Revolutionary Guards Mount Criticism against Rouhani

IRGC Deputy Commander Hossein Salami. (Fars news)
IRGC Deputy Commander Hossein Salami. (Fars news)

The Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) continued on Friday is campaign of criticism against President Hassan Rouhani, with a deputy commander saying that he is “echoing Iran’s enemies.”

IRGC Deputy Commander Hossein Salami said: “Some friends look us in the eye to congratulate us, but they are in fact echoing the voice of our enemy.”

“The IRGC does not fear those threats. It is not appropriate for friends to treat each other like enemies,” he said in an indirect reference to Rouhani.

Moreover, he attributed “internal attacks” against his forces to the “defeat of psychological wars against the IRGC.”

In addition, he made light of the growing poverty in Iran, saying: “You must not believe that the economic problems will lead the people to stray away from the regime.”

Salami instead accused his country’s “enemies” of seeking to cripple the economy.

“Those people wanted to show Iran as a backwards and poor nation.”

Iranian officials do not normally acknowledge deep divisions in their country despite the vitriolic rhetoric exchanged between them.

Head of the Basij force Gholamhossein Gheybparvar also indirectly responded to Rouhani’s criticism, saying: “The statements by some officials at public platforms does not weaken the IRGC.”

He attributed Rouhani’s recent remarks against the Guards to his “straying away from the Supreme Leader.”

“We must strengthen ties among ourselves as much as possible. We must be aware that we are all ultimately bound in the end to the Supreme Leader.”

He also defended the IRGC’s regional role, boasting of the “export of the revolution” beyond Iran’s borders.

Gheybparvar did, however, implicitly acknowledge the drop in the IRGC’s popularity on the Iranian internal scene, noting: “People abroad are more aware of the value of the revolution.”

This is owed to the IRGC, he stressed according to the Fars news agency.

Rouhani had earlier this week issued indirect criticism against the IRGC, by saying that the Iranian army has refrained from getting embroiled in “political games.”

He also slammed the IRGC’s economic role and hailed the military for not “tarnishing its image with corruption cases.”

“The military understands politics well, but it did not get involved in the political games,” he went on to say.

The IRGC was quick to respond to his claims, accusing on Thursday internal sides “harming unity and stoking division.”



Israel Far-Right Issues Rare Rebuke of Settler Attack on Army

Israeli settlers carrying weapons during clashes in which Palestinians were attacked in the town of Huwara in the West Bank. (Getty Images/AFP file)
Israeli settlers carrying weapons during clashes in which Palestinians were attacked in the town of Huwara in the West Bank. (Getty Images/AFP file)
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Israel Far-Right Issues Rare Rebuke of Settler Attack on Army

Israeli settlers carrying weapons during clashes in which Palestinians were attacked in the town of Huwara in the West Bank. (Getty Images/AFP file)
Israeli settlers carrying weapons during clashes in which Palestinians were attacked in the town of Huwara in the West Bank. (Getty Images/AFP file)

An assault by Israeli settlers on soldiers in the occupied West Bank drew condemnation from across the political spectrum, including an unusual rebuke from far-right ministers who typically support the settlement movement.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, considered the two most hardline members of the ruling coalition, called for the perpetrators to be held accountable.

The army said dozens of "civilians" attacked its forces on Sunday night at a military base in the central West Bank, vandalizing army vehicles and a security installation.

According to Israeli media, the attackers were settlers who targeted the commander of the military's Binyamin Regional Brigade, calling him a "traitor".

The attack was widely seen as a reprisal for the arrest of six settlers two days earlier.

In that incident, the commander and troops were attacked as they tried to stop settlers entering a closed military zone near the Palestinian village of Kafr Malik.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned both attacks, saying "no law-abiding country can tolerate acts of violence and anarchy".

Ben-Gvir was among the last senior figures to react.

"Harming our security forces, security installations and the soldiers who are our children, brothers and defenders, crosses a red line, and must be treated with the utmost severity," he wrote on X.

A lawyer, Ben-Gvir gained a name for himself before entering politics by defending in court several settlers accused of attacking Palestinians in the West Bank.

Smotrich wrote on X: "Violence against (Israeli) soldiers and our beloved police forces and the destruction of property are unacceptable."

- West Bank violence -

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967 and violence has surged there since Israel launched its offensive in Gaza following Hamas's October 2023 attack.

Since then, Israeli troops or settlers in the West Bank have killed at least 947 Palestinians -- many of them militants, but also scores of civilians -- according to Palestinian health ministry figures.

At least 35 Israelis, including both civilians and security forces, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or Israeli military operations, according to Israeli official figures.

But settler attacks on army positions are rare.

"It was too much, even for the far-right," said Simon Perry, a security expert and associate professor in the criminology department at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

"The rioters went overboard," he told AFP.

Nimrod Goren, an expert on foreign relations and a veteran commentator on Israeli politics, said the far-right's outrage at the assault was merely "lip service", however.

Violent assaults by Israeli settlers against Palestinians have become common since 2023, without drawing any criticism from the political class, he noted.

"But when soldiers are affected, all of a sudden people are alerted," said Goren, who is chairman of the Israeli foreign policy think tank Mitvim.

- Settlers' eviction drive -

According to the two Israeli experts, the rioters were part of an informal movement known as the hilltop youth, whose goal is to evict Palestinian residents and establish settlements in the West Bank without government approval.

The movement constitutes a fringe, even among the Religious Zionist movement, the ideological backbone of the settlement enterprise.

Several human rights NGOs have denounced the rise in violence committed by the settlers, and their perceived impunity.

Shortly after his appointment in November 2024, Defense Minister Israel Katz announced an end to administrative detention for West Bank settlers, a practice that allows security forces to detain suspects without charge.

Israeli media say the move emboldened extremist settlers and led to a wave of attacks in the Palestinian territory.

On Tuesday, the Israeli press reported that Katz would not bring it back, contrary to the opinion of Israel's Shin Bet security service.

The measure is still in place for Palestinians.

The recent settler violence against army positions in the West Bank even prompted condemnation from leaders within the movement.

"Those who wish to protest must act according to the law and not confront the army," Oded Revivi, a former mayor of the Efrat settlement, and a prominent settler figure, told AFP.

There are around 160 Israeli settlements scattered throughout the West Bank, which the UN considers illegal. Their residents number about 500,000, living among a population of three million Palestinians.