In a speech delivered on February 18 at Imam Khomeini’s Husseiniyeh in the capital, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, addressed the events surrounding the Dey protests and the many lives lost during their violent suppression. His remarks sought to frame both the unrest and its victims within a particular moral and political narrative. He divided those connected to the turmoil into several categories: “defenders of security,” “passersby,” “the deceived,” and, separately, “separatists” and “seditionists.” While expressing anger and mourning over the bloodshed, he simultaneously reaffirmed the state’s interpretation of the crisis and its response.
The speech reflected an effort to consolidate a specific memory of the protests. By distinguishing between groups, the leader appeared to pursue two parallel objectives: to isolate and condemn those portrayed as intentional enemies of the system, and to symbolically reintegrate others who had participated, however briefly, into the fold of the nation. According to his account, aside from a number of “corruptors, separatists, and coup plotters” who eventually “came to their senses,” there were security personnel defending the system’s integrity, ordinary bystanders caught up in events, and individuals who were misled into participating.
