Transform the successive mournings crossed by Iran during the last weeks into a unique moment of national reconciliation … Assassination of General Soleimani in Baghdad, death of more than 50 people, crushed in the crowd of his funeral because of the incompetence of security forces who were to supervise them, crash of the Boeing 737 of Ukraine International Airlines because of an Iranian shooting error, in the midst of a military response against the United States, floods in the south: in his televised speech to the government on Wednesday January 15, the President of the moderate Islamic Republic Hassan Rohani wanted to make an inventory of the Iranian pains, of these "Tragedies that have no party", by claiming that they are not opposed.
But can this dolorist call for unity be heard by Iranians deeply traumatized by the death, in the sky of their capital, of tens of theirs in a firing of surface-to-air missiles, that the armed forces of their country tried to hide for three days? The scope of the presidential message is all the more uncertain since Mr. Rohani did not have a word for the hundreds of people killed by the security forces during the repression of the protest movement in November 2019. We then demonstrated in all of Iran against rising gas prices, then against the regime as a whole.
"Unimaginable" fault
The death of the “martyr” Ghassem Soleimani, on the night of January 2 to 3, had briefly made it possible to stage a national unity found around his body, carried in triumph in several provinces of the country. The discovery of the authorities' lie about the crash a week later destroyed it. But President Rohani claimed Wednesday to draw the energy of a start in the disaster. He called on the defense staff to explain or even apologize "If there was a delay" in recognition of their fault. The guards of the revolution had put forward an individual error. Recalling his former duties at the head of Iranian air defense, Mr. Rohani denounced the malfunction of an entire system, which he calls to review so that this fault "Unimaginable" never happen again.
As if to maintain the trust, already broken and still partial, of society towards the regime, as if to respond to his requests, Mr. Rohani spoke of a need to "Sincerity" of"Integrity" and of " trust ", asking the armed forces to participate in a judicial effort capable of satisfying public opinion and demanding compensation for the victims. However, he did not repeat his calls the previous day to set up a special tribunal to deal with the case. He also did not risk a real criticism of the guards of the revolution, responsible for the disaster, to keep praising their courage, recalling that the men behind the crash also defended the country, and asking the Iranians to rally behind them and not to weaken them.
