Iranian Media Warn Regime's War With Israel Will Affect Citizens

Referring to the devastating currency fluctuations, Lotfollah Siahkali said, "People's pockets are ripped. If we were using the people's money until now, that is no longer possible".

Amidst ongoing economic challenges including food prices soaring, fuel becoming prohibitively expensive and record unemployment, Siahkali predicted that the latter half of the current Iranian year will prove even more difficult. His comments come in response to significant shifts in the currency market at the start of the year (Mid March), which have fueled inflationary expectations.

Siahkali pointed to the lack of stability in Iran's economic markets as a catalyst for the populace's shift towards more stable economic assets and currency such as the US dollar, gold, and real estate to preserve purchasing power against the rapidly depreciating rial.

The rial has suffered dramatically since the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal in 2018 and the subsequent reimposition of sanctions affecting key sectors such as oil exports and banking.

The overnight attack has been a subject of intense speculation and debate, fueled partly at least by Israel’s customary silence in such instances. Confirmation has come from unnamed US officials who say missiles were fired from Israeli fighter jets over Iraqi airspace and “hit” their intended target. This has been disputed by Iranian officials who say the explosions heard in Isfahan early Friday local time were caused by Iran’s defense systems hitting three “quadcopters”.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told NBC News the drones took off from inside Iran and flew for a few hundred meters before being downed. "They're ... more like toys that our children play with, not drones," Amir-Abdollahian said.

The image –taken by SkyWatch on 20 April 2024– shows an air defense system in Eighth Shekari Air Base, about 20 km northeast of Isfahan and 150 km south of the nuclear facility at Natanz, the central part of which seems to have been hit.

Satellite images before and after the strike

“The image shows clearly that the system’s engagement radar, which guides the surface-to-air missiles, has been destroyed,” Farzin Nadimi, a Senior Fellow at the Washington Institute, told Iran International after analyzing the image. “Destruction on this scale can’t be caused by “toy quadcopters”, as Iranian officials suggest.”

The imagery of the Iranian S-300 air defense system shows some significant damage to its fire control radar, while the missile launchers were apparently left intact.

The damage could have been caused by the impact of a precision-guided projectile similar to the Sparrow/Rocks family of standoff air-to-ground missiles believed to have been used by Israel in its latest strike, Nadimi said.

A similar assessment was offered by New York Times earlier. Analyzing satellite imagery, the paper concluded that “the precision attack at the Eighth Shekari Air Base damaged or destroyed the “flap-lid” radar, which is used in S-300 air defense systems to track incoming targets.”

This was also suggested by Chris Biggers, a former U.S. government imagery analyst, who published on X an image taken within a few hours after explosions were heard in Isfahan.

“Imagery acquired 0648Z 19APR2024 showed evidence of damage to the Iranian S-300PMU2 strategic surface-to-air missile battery in Isfahan,” Biggers wrote. “Other battery system components however have been withdrawn from the site. Their status and location is currently unclear.”

It may be impossible to say what exactly happened in Isfahan early Friday local time without detailed disclosures from Iran and Israel. But there’s growing evidence –and growing consensus among experts– that the target of the attack was Iran’s S-300 air defense system, and it was hit.

The S-300 is a Russian long-range surface-to-air missile defense system that can track objects 300 km afar, including ballistic missiles. It has four components: surveillance radar (tracks), command vehicle (identifies target and orders launch), engagement radar (guides missiles), and six launch vehicles that surround the engagement radar, and each fires two missiles. The system can therefore target up to 6 targets with 12 missiles at once.

Russia completed the delivery of S-300 to Iran in October 2016, after years of negotiation and several postponements, mainly due to pressure from western countries and Israel –which has long claimed Islamic Republic of Iran to be an “existential threat” for Israel.

Tension has increased between Iran and Israel in recent weeks following a presumed Israeli airstrike on April 1, which destroyed a building in Iran's embassy compound in Damascus and killed several Iranian officers.

Tehran retaliated by firing hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel on April 13, marking the first-ever direct attack on Israel by the Islamic Republic, although no casualties were reported.

The semi-official ISNA news agency detailed his engagements at the United Nations, highlighting his anti-Israel stances, interviews with American media, and comments on the recent attack on an airbase in Iran's Esfahan province.

ISNA reported an expert's view that "the foreign minister was able to use the opportunity… to explain the reasons for Iran's response to the Zionist regime, and to some extent dispel the incorrect narratives."

The report picked up by other news outlets in Tehran, also claimed that during Iran's April 14 missile and drone attack against Israel, supported by key Security Council members such as the UK, the US, and France, Israel portrayed itself as a “victim” while blocking any condemnation of its earlier attack on the Iranian consulate in Syria.

ISNA also praised the foreign minister's interview with CNN on Thursday in which Amir-Abdollahian said Iran's response to Israel “stayed within a minimum of frameworks,” noting that Tehran could have taken harsher measures.

In a discussion with NBC News on Saturday, the Iranian foreign minister addressed a recent unclaimed attack in central Iran, stating that the investigation was ongoing and that no direct links to Israel had been established yet. He described the drones involved in the incident as trivial, likening them to "toys that our children play with."

“The Islamic Republic of Iran will not leave unanswered any action against its national interests … Iran’s response can come in many shapes and forms but we will do it tactfully,” said Mahmoud Abbaszadeh Meshkini, who serves as a member of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Iranian parliament.

Reiterating the positions of senior Iranian officials, Abbaszadeh tried to downplay the Isfahan offensive, calling it “a show” performed by Israel in an attempt to “restore its dignity” following Iran’s missile and drone attacks last weekend. For the Israeli government, the media coverage of the incident was more important than its location and intensity, remarked the lawmaker.

On April 13, Iran launched its first ever direct offensive against Israeli territory with more than 350 drones and cruise and ballistic missiles, 99 percent of which were downed, according to the Israeli army.

Early Friday, Israel reportedly targeted Esfahan's 8th Shekari Air Base in retaliation for Iran’s offensive. Though satellite images and reports indicate that a major defense system in the airbase was damaged, Iranian officials and state media have unanimously played down the operation.

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The regime has recently intensified its crackdown against critics, summoning those who have publicly expressed their disapproval of Tehran’s policy with regard to Israel. Earlier in the week, the government took legal action against a number of newspapers and influential journalists who failed to reiterate its rhetoric regarding the attack on Israel in their publications.

Prominent reformist commentator Abbas Abdi, investigative journalist Hossein Dehbashi, and whistle-blower Yashar Soltani were accused of “compromising national security” following their comments regarding Iran’s attack on Israel’s soil.

Ali Salehabadi, the managing editor of Setareh Sobh daily, criticized the government’s foreign policy with regard to Israel in shrouded remarks interwoven within the fabric of an article released on Saturday, asking what had made the West turn support Israel so soon after all but turning its back on the Jewish state. 

He also asked why the Arab masses and Arab states abandoned the ideas of 'throwing Jews in the sea and destroying Israel', and turned to compromise with Israel, Salehabadi wrote. He noted that some Arab countries such as Jordan collaborated with Israel, the US, the UK, and France to intercept and down Iranian projectiles before reaching the Jewish state.

He juxtaposed Iran’s declining economy and the rising regional tensions, warning that a war with Israel would target Iran’s economy and inflict damage to the people.

In more than a decade, the country's economic growth has averaged zero. The situation has been further exacerbated since the US withdrawal from the JCPOA nuclear deal in 2018. Over the past six years, the rial, Iran’s national currency, has fallen 15-fold, fueling inflation and plunging millions of citizens into poverty. Eqtesad 24 news website reported in February that almost one in every three Iranians is currently living below the poverty line as a result of soaring inflation in the past five years.

Meanwhile, Saber Golanbari, journalist and political analyst, wrote in his Telegram channel that neither Israel nor Iran seeks a direct confrontation due to the enormous costs of a war.

“The future is likely to usher in a new round of indirect warfare in various forms. Israel will most probably try to focus more than ever on sabotage against sensitive Iranian facilities as well as on indirect assassinations,” he pointed out.

Despite the claims, there was no specific mention of the nature of the support from the public, who reportedly spent the past week in anxiety over potential Israeli retaliation in addition to the streets of Iran being strewn with graffiti with supportive messages for Israel.

The IRGC's statement proclaimed, "We humbly appreciate and are grateful for your magnificent support and backing…for the IRGC in punishing the Zionist enemy during these historic everlasting days."

The latest IRGC statement described the operation as having brought "peace and assurance" to Iran and "fear, terror, and humiliation to the Zionist regime and its allies" as the regime continues to play down the fact that in partnership with a US-led coalition, almost all the barrage was intercepted before reaching Israeli territory.

The IRGC's victorious narrative has been accompanied by a tightened clampdown on dissent within Iran. Following the assault on Israel, which was purportedly in retaliation for an attack linked to Israel on Iran’s consulate in Syria, there has been an increase in repressive actions against journalists and media outlets critical of the regime.

The Tasnim News Agency, affiliated with the IRGC, even issued a warning last week on Twitter (now X) about dealing with Israel's supporters on social media, urging citizens to report pro-Israel sentiments.

The directive has led to an atmosphere where journalists are either treading cautiously or completely avoiding discussions on the attack. The Prosecutor's Office has also taken legal action against some media outlets; for instance, the daily newspaper Etemad was indicted for publishing content opposing the attack, and Jahan-e Sanat faced charges over an article about the economic impact of escalating tensions, specifically rising exchange rates.