Hegseth Calls Regime Leaders ‘Rats’ Even as They Parade on Tehran Streets

As Islamic Republic leaders, or what’s left of them, paraded on Tehran’s streets on Friday, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth dismissed the regime’s act of defiance and said its leaders are hiding like “rats.”Images on Iranian state-run television showed such regime figures as the National Security Council’s chief, Ali Larijani; President Masoud Pezeshkian; and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi marching among large crowds marking Quds Day — an annual parade for Jerusalem in which crowds are encouraged to chant anti-American and anti-Israeli slogans. Chief Justice Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, seen surrounded by bodyguards at the parade, seemed rattled by an air-dropped bomb seen in the background of a grainy video. Snippets from clips of other leaders carefully avoided displaying scenes, visible from other video angles, of faraway Israeli or American air bombardment.“They’re staging this show to sell an image of unity and large public support,” an Iran-born researcher at Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies, Beni Sabti, tells The New York Sun. “These guys are surrounded by hundreds of thousands of people and bodyguards,” he says. The presence of throngs of civilians all but immunized them from American and Israeli airstrikes, while the guards ensured Iranians would not assassinate them. One member of the Tehran elite who was not seen Friday is the man who was inaugurated in absentia two days earlier as the new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei. “We know the new, so-called, not so supreme, leader is wounded and likely disfigured,” Mr. Hegseth said in a press conference Friday. “He put out a statement yesterday, a weak one, actually, but there was no voice and there was no video. It was a written statement. He called for unity. Apparently, killing tens of thousands of protesters is his kind of unity.”Other leaders, Mr. Hegseth added, are “in no better shape, desperate and hiding. They’ve gone underground, cowering. That’s what rats do.” The Department of State offered a $10 million award on Friday for information on IRGC leaders, including Mr. Larijani and Mojtaba Khamenei.On the February 28 launch of the war Israeli fighter jets bombed the supreme leader’s palace at Tehran, killing Ali Khemenei and dozens of his lieutenants. The regime conducted funerals for those “martyrs” on Wednesday. But Ali Khamenei, whose body was perhaps difficult to dig up, is yet to be buried. “Who’s in charge? Iran may not even know,” Mr. Hegseth said. “They can barely communicate, let alone coordinate. They’re confused.” His assessment was ridiculed on social networks, where the participation of regime bigwigs in the Quds Day parade was seen as proof that rather than hiding, the leaders were unharmed and freely walking Tehran streets. That image is the message the regime attempted to convey. The Islamic Republic’s strategy in the war is predicated on the premise that survival is victory. The Islamic Republic will suffer endless losses, but if at the end of war some leaders remain, they will be able to declare victory and rejuvenate the clerical state.That strategy, though, relies heavily on an ability to repress the millions of Iranians, especially young people, who have grown up not knowing any form of government other than the Islamic Republic. On Thursday the Israel Defense Forces disclosed that its fighter jets and drones had struck checkpoints at Tehran, reportedly based on intelligence conveyed by locals. The roadblocks were manned by members of the Basij, a paramilitary group known for cruelly oppressing dissent.“These forces led the regime’s primary efforts to suppress internal protests, particularly in recent months, employing severe violence, mass arrests, and the use of force against civilian demonstrators,” the IDF said in a statement.On Wednesday a missile destroyed Tehran’s Sepah Bank. Services are also sporadic and often disrupted at Melli Bank. These financial institutions are where Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Basij officials bank. While some services have been restored, they remain irregular, making it difficult for the oppressors to withdraw salaries. Prior to the launch of the war on February 28, throngs of Iranians were on the streets, protesting the regime’s oppressive methods and its inability to deliver basic necessities like water, electricity, and other services. Up to 36,000 protesters were reportedly killed by regime enforcers’ bullets in two days on January 8-9.Even if the regime survives at the end of Epic Fury, “I don’t see how they can solve the underlined problems that drove these people to the streets,” Mr. Sabti said.

Hegseth Calls Regime Leaders ‘Rats’ Even as They Parade on Tehran Streets

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