Karimi on the Iranian government: “Now you’re trapped at the dead end of your own stupidity. Don’t cry to the people.”
By Shula Rosen
Iranian soccer legend Ali Karimi, a frequent critic of the Islamic regime, took to social media to support Israel’s strikes against Iran’s nuclear sites and military targets.
Karimi, one of the rare Iranian public figures to criticize the government and the clerics, accuses them of “bullying” the public and says the Israeli strikes, which are heavily damaging their military capabilities, are a just payback for years of oppression and their “drunkenness on power.”
“I speak to the Islamic Republic and its supporters: in 2009, you didn’t listen to the people—you raped, tortured and killed,” he wrote.
Karimi accused the regime of ignoring their citizens’ pleas, and said, “Now you’re trapped at the dead end of your own stupidity. Don’t cry to the people.”
The soccer legend said he viewed Israel’s military action as a reasonable response to Iran’s corruption. He wrote, “Israel’s attack is the bill for your 46 years of drunkenness with power, thuggery and bullying. Pay it yourselves, you scum.
“The bloodthirsty and criminal enemies of Iran and the Iranians are you. It’s you who must go and get lost in the black hole of history, enemies of Iran and the Iranians.”
This isn’t the first time Karimi, considered one of Iran’s greatest soccer players, has boldly criticized the regime and its proxies.
Following the exploding pagers incident in Lebanon last September, which Israel had arranged to disable Hezbollah, Karimi wrote, “On this day of remembrance for those who died in the Iran-Iraq War, hit them as hard as you can, Bibi.”
“That will be the true remedy for the pain of Iran and the Iranian people,” he added, with the hashtags “At your command, Netanyahu” and “Bibi goal.”
As punishment for Karimi’s criticism of the government, Iranian authorities seized his home in northern Tehran, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps called for his arrest.
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