Website Affiliated with the Guards Shuts Itself

An Iranian Internet website affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards and its Basij para-military militia with a hardline security leaning has claimed that it was shutting itself “because of pressure.” The closure of Nedaye Enghelab (translates into the Call of the Revolution) comes just a few days after the representative of ayatollah Khamenei in the Guards once again issued a warning to the media affiliated with the Guards. It is not exactly clear what is the link between the warning, the closure, and the specifics of pressures that were mentioned.

The website has described its mission and work to be, “To monitor and confront activities that are against the revolution, seditionists, deviants while introducing and supporting groups and individuals that support the high ideals of the Islamic revolution in political and cultural spheres.” It added that it was shutting down the site because of pressure from “certain individuals” while its work was having “an increasing impact.”

According to the operators of the site, the website was born during the protests against the disputed 2009 presidential elections with the goal of educating the public and neutralizing those who were not inline with the ideals of the revolution.

The news of the closure of the site was widely posted on other websites closely associated with Iran’s military establishment.  A website called Meidan 72 which supports Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wrote that “Nedaye Enghelab that operated during Ahmadinejad’s term without any constraints but posted slanderous material against the government. Now, with a change in the administration, certain individuals have exerted pressure on it to shut down.” This website also claimed that another website, Vatan Emrouz, too would be shut down soon because of “lack of funds.”

Unprecedented Warnings to IRGC and Basij Media

When the representative of ayatollah Khamenei joined general Firuzabadi to issue a clear warning to media outlets affiliated to the Guards and the Basij, a big question emerged: Has there been an order from higher ups to support the administration or at the least stop criticizing it or is this some facetious act for the military to distance itself from certain hardline and extreme media that continued to harshly criticize the administration. The closure of Nedaye may indicate the former.

It is difficult to identify the number and specific name of all websites and media outlets that are affiliated to the Revolutionary Guards or the Basij, which according to IRGC’s spokesman are there to help create the atmosphere to fight the soft war of the enemy. Such news outlets as Fars news agency and even some television stations and Internet TV channels are commonly known to belong to the Guards.

But the military establishment never talks of news and media outlets affiliated with it, except for rare occasions when it does say that Javan newspaper, for example, belongs to it. Ahmadinejad broke this generalization towards the end of his presidential term when his relations with the Guards soured. He mentioned Fars news agency to be closely tied to the IRGC. Tabnak website belonging to a former IRGC commander Mohsen Rezai who is the secretary of the influential State Expediency Council had written a few years ago that the budget for Fars came from the cultural division of the IRGC.

Vatan Emrouz belongs to Mehrdad Bazrpoush, a former Majlis representative with close ties to Ahmadinejad. This was one of the harshest newspapers during the aftermath of the disputed 2009 presidential elections that published harsh stories against the Green Movement and civil activists who were critical of the election. Last year, the newspaper announced its closure because of financial issues as its financial aid from the government was cut off.  But it reemerged soon afterwards. The editor described its mission to be “the events of 2009 when a record election of 40 million voters (85 percent of the electorate) was questioned by a madman and supported by Rafsanjani and Khatami.”

No other news media has echoed the news about the imminent closure of Vatan Emrouz, so it may not be accurate. But the newspaper remains today to be one of the loudest voices of criticism against the current administration. It was not present in the president’s most recent media event which the newspaper said was because of shortage of space. Even though this newspaper has demonstrated to be close to security agencies, it is not said to be affiliated to the IRGC or the Basij.