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Iran police chief warns protesters will be treated ‘as we treat the enemy’

Ahmad-Reza Radan said his forces have “fingers on the trigger” for demonstrators demanding regime change after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged Iranians to rise up.

Iranian police chief General Ahmad-Reza Radan attends a military parade marking the country's annual army day in the capital Tehran on April 18, 2023. Photo by Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images.
Iranian police chief General Ahmad-Reza Radan attends a military parade marking the country’s annual army day in the capital Tehran on April 18, 2023. Photo by Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images.

Iran’s police chief warned citizens against protesting for regime change, saying demonstrators would be treated “as we treat the enemy,” Australia’s ABC News reported on Wednesday.

Police commander Ahmad-Reza Radan told state television that “all our forces have their fingers on the trigger.”

The comments came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged Iranians to “seize the moment” and “remove the Ayatollah regime.”

“This political environment could discourage congressional committee staff and federal agency personnel from pursuing investigations or enforcement actions involving antisemitism,” Karen Paikin Barall of the Brandeis Center told JNS.
“They get social credit within their political bases in terms of talking about settler violence and and taking up the side of the Palestinians on issues between them and Israel,” Rafael Mangual of the Manhattan Institute told JNS.
The U.S. envoy also said antisemitism “didn’t exist” during his upbringing and warned of an unintended clash between Israel and Turkey.
“There is not, and there will not be, a Palestinian state,” the Israeli prime minister pledged. He also called for the corruption trial against him to be dropped.