Hatami’s warning reflects the dual pressure Tehran faces from external tensions with the United States and Israel and internal unrest driven by deepening economic hardship. Hatami took command of Iran’s regular army after Israel killed a number of the country’s top military commanders in June’s 12-day war — and his threat came days after the U.S. military seized Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, a longtime Iranian ally, in an operation that Iranian officials said amplified their concerns about U.S. intentions.
DUBAI — Iran’s army chief threatened preemptive military action Wednesday, warning that Tehran would not tolerate what he called intensifying “rhetoric” directed at the Islamic Republic — a statement aimed at recent comments by U.S. President Donald Trump regarding the protests that have gripped Iran for 11 consecutive days.
Maj. Gen. Amir Hatami, speaking to military academy students, said, “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.”
He added, “I can say with confidence that today the readiness of Iran’s armed forces is far greater than before the war. If the enemy commits an error, it will face a more decisive response, and we will cut off the hand of any aggressor.”
Context for the threat
Hatami’s warning followed Trump’s statement that if Iran “violently kills peaceful protesters,” the United States “will come to their rescue.” Iranian officials, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, have been publicly responding to Trump’s comments in recent days.
The warning also came days after the U.S. military seized Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro — a longtime Iranian ally — in an operation over the weekend that Iranian officials said intensified their concerns. No immediate public sign of Iran preparing for a military strike in the region had emerged as of Wednesday.
Hatami took over as commander of Iran’s regular army, known in Farsi as the Artesh, after Israel killed a number of the country’s top military commanders in June’s 12-day war. He is the first regular military officer in decades to hold a position long dominated by Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.
Protests in their 11th day
The demonstrations, which began Dec. 28 following a sharp decline in the rial currency, showed no sign of abating as they entered their 11th day Wednesday. Social media videos purported to show additional cities — including Bojnourd, Kerman, Rasht, Shiraz, and Tabriz, as well as smaller towns — joining the protests.
According to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, 36 people have been killed since the protests began: 30 protesters, four children, and two members of Iran’s security forces. The group said more than 2,100 people have been arrested. Demonstrations have reached more than 310 locations in 28 of Iran’s 31 provinces, it said. The group, which relies on an activist network inside Iran for its reporting, has been accurate in past unrest.
The New York-based Soufan Center said the protests reflect more than economic grievance. “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,” the think tank said.
Government’s economic response
Seeking to ease the economic discontent, Iran’s government on Wednesday began depositing the equivalent of $7 a month — 10 million Iranian rials — into the bank accounts of heads of households across the country as a subsidy for rising food costs. Iranian state television reported that more than 71 million people will receive the payment.
The subsidy is more than double the previous household payment of 4.5 million rials, though Iranian media reported sharp increases in the cost of basic goods — including cooking oil, poultry, and cheese — driven by the rial’s continued depreciation. The rial now trades at more than 1.4 million to $1.
Shopkeepers warned that prices for staples as basic as cooking oil could triple under pressure from the currency’s collapse and the end of a preferential subsidized exchange rate that had previously benefited importers and manufacturers.
Iran’s Vice President Mohammad Jafar Ghaempanah told reporters Wednesday that the country was in a “full-fledged economic war.” He called for “economic surgery” to eliminate what he described as rentier policies and corruption within the country.