TEHRAN, Iran – Iran will show “no mercy” toward the Islamic Republic’s “hostile” opponents, President Ebrahim Raisi said Tuesday.
The “riot”, as Tehran commonly refers to it, was sparked by the death in custody of 22-year-old Amini on September 16 after being arrested on suspicion of violating a strict dress code for women. caused.
Addressing a crowd in Tehran, Raisi accused “hypocrites, monarchists and all counter-revolutionary currents” of carrying out widespread demonstrations.
“The embrace of the nation is open to all who are seduced,” the ultra-conservative president said at the funeral procession for an unidentified soldier who died in the eight-year war with neighboring Iraq in the 1980s.
“The national embrace is open to everyone, but we show no mercy to those who oppose us,” he added.
Iranian officials say hundreds have been killed, including members of the security forces, and thousands have been arrested across the country.
In this photo taken by an individual not employed by the Associated Press and obtained outside Iran by the Associated Press, 22-year-old Masa Amini died in Tehran on Oct. 27 after being detained by moral police while in custody. Iranians Protesting, 2022. (Middle East Images/AP)
Foreign-based rights groups put the death toll of protesters at more than 450.
In early December, Iran executed two people in connection with the protests. Judiciary officials said nine of his others were sentenced to death, two of which were granted retrials.
Campaigners say about a dozen other defendants have been charged with crimes that could carry the death penalty.
Iranian officials have accused hostile foreign powers, including the United States and some European countries, of fueling the unrest.
Demonstrators take part in a protest against Iranian authorities in London on October 29, 2022. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)
Raisi said they aim to “derail the Islamic society from its lofty goals” by “spreading rumors and causing society to collapse.”
But it is “wrong” for foreign countries to think they can achieve their goals with it, Raisi argued, saying their move was miscalculated.
