Hundreds of thousands of Iranians will descend on Khomeini’s Mausoleum in southern Tehran to remember the leader of the 1979 Islamic Revolution who united the country against Iraqi aggression in the 1980-88 war.
He died June 3, 1989.
A senior commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) overseeing Tehran’s security said Saturday the HAWK system will protect the event from airborne threats, including drones.
“The security agencies will monitor a security belt to the radius of 10 kilometers around the Imam Khomeini shrine,” Mohammad Reza Yazdi, commander of Mohammad Rasulullah IRGC Corp, told a press conference Saturday.
“This year, HAWK missiles have been deployed to counter threats including from drones. We will be ready to deal with any possible security threats.”
Iran bought the HAWK Medium Range Surface-to-Air missile system from US in the 1970s and received large shipments of spare parts during the Iran-Contra Affair of mid 1980s in violation of the arms embargo imposed at the time.
Second Brigadier General Yazdi has one of the most sensitive jobs within the IRGC, commanding tens of thousands of guards and Basijis to maintain the security of the capital of 16 million people, often taking responsibility from the police and ministry of intelligence in times of crisis.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, who will speak at the event, reshuffled the top command of Iran’s security forces in recent months as tensions between Tehran and Washington reached boiling point.
The US has deployed an aircraft carrier strike group, B-52 bombers, jets, and a further 1,500 personnel to the Persian Gulf in recent weeks in response to an unspecified Iranian threat.
Khamenei has ruled out negotiations with Washington until current US sanctions on Iran’s economy are lifted, calling on Iranians to stand firm in the face of unilateral US action against Tehran.
The IRGC’s extra-territorial activities and proxy forces in Yemen, Lebanon, Iraq, and Syria have raised serious concerns among the Arab rulers of the Gulf States who rely on Washington’s assurances for their security.
Saudi Arabia’s King Salman on Friday said Tehran is a threat to regional and global security, accusing it of attacking four vessels off the coast of Fujariah, UAE, close to the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
Tehran’s security chiefs are not particularly concerned about Washington and its Gulf allies, however. Attacks by the Islamic State group (ISIS), which used armed drones during combat in Iraq and Syria, are its main worry.
Two years ago, members of an ISIS cell launched daring simultaneous raids on the Khomeini Mausoleum and the Iranian parliament, killing 17 and wounding more than 50.
Ali Khamenei, who is the commander-in-chief of Iran’s armed forces, changed most of the top commanders responsible for Tehran’s security in the aftermath of the attack.
Iranian officials say conditions under US sanctions are far worse than they were during the eight-year war with Iraq in 1980s.
Iran’s oil exports dropped to 400,000 barrels per day in May, compared to 2.5 million bpd in April 2018 before Washington withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal.
Tehran held a Quds Day rallies on Friday during which US and Israelis flags were burned. People also marched in Baghdad in solidarity with the Palestinian people.
The last Friday of the month of Ramadan was named as Jerusalem Day (Quds Day) by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1979 to show solidarity and support for the Palestinian cause.
Ali Khamenei is expected to speak at Monday’s memorial event, where he is likely to issue instructions to the IRGC and the government about how to deal with Washington and regional neighbors.
