Ahmad Hashemi
Resistance Axis
News about Iran’s proxy network in the Middle East.
Iran Uses Afghan Immigrants to Improve Raisi Funeral Optics
The Iranian regime bused in Afghan migrants to inflate the number of attendees at the late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s funerals in Qom, Tehran, Mashhad, and other cities. Iranian state news agency IRNA reported that over 100,000 Afghan migrants participated in Raisi’s funeral procession in his hometown of Mashhad.
Why it matters. The fact that the regime needed to mobilize Afghan migrants to create the impression of popularity is another sign of its weakness. Tehran routinely mobilizes foreigners, especially Shiites, to bolster its power at home. In 2022, credible reports stated that the Iranian regime mobilized Hashd al-Shaabi, Kata’ib Hezbollah, and Lebanese Hezbollah members to assist Iran’s Basij paramilitary forces in their crackdown on Iranian protesters. As the Mullahs’ popularity continues to sink, the regime will rely more on proxies to shore up its power.
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