Thread by @Raman_Ghavami

THREAD/
This is a very misleading and dangerous narrative by Iranian dictatorship apologists like Trita Parsi. Here is why:
This insurgent group(Ansar_Al-Furqan) was established in 2013 by the IRGC to confront Balouchi movement and fought alongside IRGC against Jundallah.
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Ansar-al-Furqan's ideology is Muslim Brotherhood.This group is close to Jabhat-al-Nusra front [and Taliban] motivated by Muslim Brotherhood ideology. This is why Jabhat-al-Nusra has good relations with Turkey and "Qatar gave this group $64.2B between 2010 and 2015." 2/18

Four years after its establishment by the IRGC, Ansar_Al-Furqan's significant part led by Jalil Qanbarzehi rejected working for Iran. However, this wasn't accepted by the IRGC and an operation was conducted in June 2017 to destroy the group. 3/18

In June 2017, the IRGC claimed that its forces have "destroyed the entire group". In the operation Jalil Qanbarzehi and his fighters were killed. 4/18

tabnak.ir/fa/news/705142…

However, this is the second time that Iran accuses this group of conducting attacks in Iran. Despite claims by the IRGC(destroying the group in June 2017), it appears this group conducts attacks when protests are happening inside the country and when Tehran is under pressure.5/18

This group for the first time [after IRGC's claim in June 2017] conducted an attack in Ahvaz in December 2017 during #IranProtests. Recently university students and Ahwazi people are protesting. The timing of today's attack is as suspicious as the one back in DEC 2017. 6/18

Hours after #ChabaharAttack, Iran claimed that Ansar_Al-Furqan is behind the attack. 7/18

https://twitter.com/Raman_Ghavami/status/1070606019942907905

Hours later,Iranian media started pumping out photos of the groups's statement,claiming the group took responsibility for the attack. Iranian media claim the statement(Farsi&English)was taken from group's Telegram channel. 8/18

This claim isn't true as the group doesn't have a Telegram channel. Moreover, the English version was released hours before the Farsi version of the statement. What is interesting is the inconsistency in the way statements have been prepared. 9/18

It appears the English version was released in seconds as "the group" had forgotten to put "its symbol" in the background of the statement. Hours later the Farsi version was released with "the group's flag" in the background. 10/18

Nevertheless, whoever has prepared the statement had forgotten that the flag or symbol of the group is not what we see in the background of Farsi version of the statement. Prior to June 2017 the group leaded by Jalil Qanbarzehi used flags of jihad. 11/18

The symbol in the background of the statement is made up one and does not come from the group. The aim of releasing English version before Farsi may be part of efforts to show that Iran is under attack by Jihadi groups. 12/18

Furthermore, Mohammad Pakpour, commander of the IRGC's ground forces had arrived in Chabahar hours before the attack. It is worth mentioning that the IRGC is unhappy about India's presence in Chabahr Port. 13/18

Moreover,Chabahr Railway Project given to IRGC's Khatam-al Anbiya Construction Headquarters to be completed by the end of this year, is far from what IRGC had promised. The project may not even finish by the end of 2020. This project is worth $9.6B which is IRGC's pocket. 14/18

Following this attack, the IRGC and other Iranian security forces may start arresting Balouchi activists and distract people of current ongoing protests. Unlike #AhvazAttack, #ChabaharAttack is highly likely conducted in cooperation with the IRGC for the following reasons: 15/18

1st to cover up the failure of the IRGC's Khatam-al Anbiya Construction Headquarters in delivering railway project.
2nd to oppress more Balouchi people.
3rd to distract public opinion from current unrest in the country and prevent it from spreading by spreading fear in Iran.16/18

4th to spread fake and misleading reports about Saudi Arabia supporting insurgents in Iran. This is what people like Trita Parsi are doing. The truth is Iran faces unprecedented pressures. accusing "Salafism" is very biased and many westerners may buy Iran's propaganda. 17/18

Finally, Iran tries to prevent any support for Balouchis or Ahwazi Arabs by labelling them as Sunnis extremist when they are not.
There are extremists in Iran and the only founder of them is Iran for decades of discrimination policies against minorities and not Saudis. 18/18