Iran’s army chief threatened Wednesday a preemptive response to “rhetoric” targeting the Islamic Republic, AP reported, as protests continued and the Iranian government tried to address public anger over economic conditions.
Maj. Gen. Amir Hatami spoke to military academy students, and his warning was carried by the state-run IRNA news agency. The report said Hatami warned that the Islamic Republic considers the intensification of such rhetoric against the Iranian nation as a threat and “will not leave its continuation without a response.”
Hatami also said, according to IRNA, that the readiness of Iran’s armed forces was “far greater than before the war.” He added that if an enemy commits an error, it will face a more decisive response, and Iran would “cut off the hand of any aggressor.”
AP said Hatami’s comments likely referred to U.S. President Donald Trump’s warning that if Tehran “violently kills peaceful protesters,” the United States “will come to their rescue.” The AP report said Iranian officials, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, have been responding to Trump’s remarks, and it linked their increased significance to a U.S. military raid that seized Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro over the weekend.
The military threat came as Iran took steps aimed at reducing pressure on household budgets. State television reported the start of a new subsidy of the equivalent of $7, deposited into bank accounts of heads of households across the country. It said more than 71 million people would receive the benefit, amounting to 10 million Iranian rials, AP reported.
AP said the Iranian rial was trading at over 1.4 million to $1 and continued to depreciate. It also reported that the new subsidy was more than double than the 4.5 million rials people previously received, while Iranian media described sharp rises in the cost of basic goods including cooking oil, poultry and cheese.
Mohammad Jafar Ghaempanah, Iran’s vice president in charge of executive affairs, told reporters on Wednesday that the country was in a “full-fledged economic war.” AP said he called for “economic surgery” to eliminate rentier policies and corruption within Iran.
Protests in Iran began soon after Dec. 28 and reached their 11th day on Wednesday, AP reported. AP said social media videos purported to show new cities, including Bojnourd, Kerman, Rasht, Shiraz and Tabriz, along with smaller towns, joining demonstrations on Wednesday.
Human Rights Activists News Agency offered a reported death toll of 36 for the demonstrations. AP said the group reported 30 protesters, four children and two members of Iran’s security forces have been killed, and that demonstrations had reached over 310 locations in 28 of Iran’s 31 provinces, with more than 2,100 people arrested.
The report also cited the New York-based Soufan Center think tank, which said “more than a week of protests in Iran reflects not only worsening economic conditions, but longstanding anger at government repression and regime policies that have led to Iran’s global isolation.”
AP said Hatami took over as commander in chief of Iran’s army, known as the Artesh, after Israel killed a number of Iran’s top military commanders in June’s 12-day war. It also reported that he is the first regular military officer in decades to hold a position long controlled by Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, and that there was no immediate public sign of Iran preparing for an attack in the region.