Skip to main content

300,000 security forces to guard Iran polls: Police chief


The chief of Iran’s Law Enforcement Forces says as many as 300,000 members of the service will be deployed to guarantee security during general elections next month.  
Brigadier General Hossein Ashtari said the elections are “the most important political event” to take place in the country, adding his forces are directly responsible to thwart any possible threat. 
“The country enjoys exemplary security,” but "the armed forces, police and the security apparatus should always assume that something is going to happen," he said.
"We should pay attention to the regional and international developments, and maintain necessary readiness to confront any type of threat,” Ashtari added. 
He touched on the activities of Takfiri and Salafi groups, saying "thanks to the readiness of the armed forces and the vigilance of the Eminent Leader of the Revolution (Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei), all plots have been foiled" so far.
"We should maintain this readiness and vigilance because preparedness would forestall any movements in various domains."   
Ashtari said police's "preemptive measures and intelligence superiority have always played an effective and useful role in confronting threats in various areas.”
Iran's armed and security forces, he said, have thwarted individuals and groups who sought to infiltrate the country and harm the establishment in the past.  

With Iranians gearing up to go to the polls next month, police's priority is to enhance intelligence command and operational preparedness in border areas, he said.
In recent years, Iran's borders with Iraq in the West and those with Pakistan and Afghanistan in the east have faced security challenges from Takfiri and other groups which Tehran says are supported by US, British and Saudi intelligence services.   
On Monday, commander of the Special Units of the Iranian Police Force Hassan Karami said 20,000 special police forces would be providing security at the ballot boxes on the voting day on May 19.
Read more:
Some 55 million Iranians are eligible to vote to choose a new president as well as new members of the city and village councils.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Iran, Turkey, Qatar mull land route amid Saudi crisis

Turkey seeks to establish a land route via Iran for trade with Qatar which has relied on both countries for sourcing food since a diplomatic crisis broke out with Saudi Arabia. Turkish Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci on Saturday was in Tehran where he was expected to discuss using Iran’s land route to facilitate trade with Qatar, Anadolu quoted him as saying. "We're thinking about alternatives for land trade routes with Qatar but the easiest way is passing through Iran," Zeybekci said, according to the news agency.  He traveled to Tehran to attend the swearing-in of President Hassan Rouhani along with delegates from around the world. It was not immediately clear who was representing Qatar in the ceremony.  Turkey has used a land, air and sea blockade imposed on Qatar by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt to flood the tiny peninsula in the Persian Gulf with its goods but Zeybekci said using cargo planes to carry products was no...
Post a Comment
Read more

China punishes thousands over misuse of govt. funds

China has punished 8,123 people for committing fiscal violations after an audit of how the government's 2016 central budget was spent revealed multiple problems, the Xinhua state news agency reported. Hu Zejun, head of the National Audit Office, announced the infringements while briefing lawmakers on Saturday, Xinhua said. A broad anti-graft campaign in China, aimed at rooting out deep-seated corruption in the ruling Communist Party, including the misuse or embezzlement of government funds, has ensnared more than 1.3 million officials. Hu said that of the offenders, 970 were punished for misusing funds earmarked for a poverty relief campaign intended to lift everyone in rural areas out of poverty by 2020. Another 1,363 were punished for irregularities in the use of funds meant to provide affordable housing, she said. She said 800 people in state-owned enterprises and 73 people in eight major banks were found to have committed violations, along with 505 people who...
Post a Comment
Read more

38 dead, 92,000 left homeless by Niger floods

Recent heavy floods in Niger have killed more than three dozen people and left tens of thousands of others homeless, a United Nations (UN) report says. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a report on Wednesday that, since June, at least 38 people had lost their lives and more than 92,000 had been made homeless as a result of torrential rains and heavy downpours in the West African country. The Nigerien government had put the number of fatalities at 14 before new flooding in August. The OCHA, citing government figures, also noted that more than 9,000 homes had been destroyed and more than 26,000 heads of livestock lost. Over 50,000 people had received aid from NGOs and many of the homeless had been sheltering in schools and public buildings, it added. The Nigerien National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) issued a warning last month, advising residents along the Niger River to evacuate immediately to safer ground over the likelihood of...
Post a Comment
Read more