Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi made a speech at the former US Embassy in Tehran on Friday to mark the anniversary of the seizure on Students’ Day.
Photo: AFP/Morteza Nicobazul
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said the unrest and demonstrations were part of a US attempt to recreate the 2011 Arab uprisings in the Islamic Republic, and said the attempt failed.
The protests lasted for 50 days yesterday, but in contrast to other ongoing conflicts in the Arab world, Iranian cities were “safe and sound”, Iranian media reported, saying the president said.
But he said those who create anxiety “must be dealt with.”
Iran’s clerical leadership helped quell demonstrations that erupted in September after the death of Martha Amini, a young Kurdish Iranian woman detained by the moral police for defying strict laws on women’s dress. I’m having a hard time.
Students and women are leading many of the current protests, according to unconfirmed video footage, with women removing or burning their veils in violation of strict dress codes, and students harassing officials on college campuses. They are cursing.
Hundreds, mostly protesters, have been killed in one of the most severe waves of unrest to sweep the country since the 1979 Islamic revolution that overthrew the US-backed Shah, activists said.
As Iranian officials marked the anniversary of the seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran by militant students this week, President Joe Biden backed the protesters, saying, “We are going to liberate Iran. They will soon will be released,” he said.
“The Americans and other enemies tried to destabilize Iran by carrying out the same plans as in Libya and Syria, but they failed,” Raisi was quoted as telling a group of students on Friday to the Iranian news agency. rice field.
A popular uprising in Libya led to NATO intervention in 2011, leading to the overthrow and murder of the country’s leader, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, by rebels. In Syria, large-scale demonstrations against Iranian ally President Bashar al-Assad confronted power, engulfing the country in an 11-year-long conflict.
In contrast, Iran’s cities are now “safe and sound”, Raishi said, promising retaliation for the unrest experienced by the country.
slogan, crackdown
Activist news agency HRANA said 314 protesters, including 47 minors, had died in the riots as of Friday. About 38 members of the security forces were also killed. At least 14,170 people, including 392 students, were arrested in protests in 136 cities and towns and 134 universities, it said.
Some of the worst bloodshed has occurred in Sistan-Baltistan province in southeastern Iran, home to much of the Sunni minority, a predominantly Shiite Muslim country.
Senior Sunni cleric Moravi Abdulhamid said the response to Friday’s protests in the southeastern city of Kaş was harsher than elsewhere in the country.
“Should live ammunition be a response to slogans and stone throwing? The question is…why are protesters in this state being slaughtered without mercy?” the cleric asked in a statement on his website. .
Amnesty International said up to 10 people may have died after security forces reportedly opened fire on stone-throwing protesters and attacked government buildings.
Students protested at dozens of universities on Saturday, chanting slogans such as “women, life and freedom,” in Tehran and Karaj to the west of the capital, the northern city of Rasht and Mashhad in the northeast. flana.
Rights group Hengaw posted a video it said was from Kurdistan’s capital Sanandaj, where protesters opened fire late Saturday to block main streets. But there were protests.
A social media video purported to originate from the southwestern city of Ahwaz shows a young man setting fire to a statue of Qassem Soleimani, a Quds Force commander who was killed in a US strike in Iraq in 2020. I am projecting it.
Reuters was unable to verify the video.
The crisis has dragged Iran’s currency to new lows. The US dollar was selling at 362,100 rials on Saturday after losing almost 12% of its value since the protests began, according to forex website Bonbast.com.
In an apparent effort to curb the currency’s depreciation, the government on Saturday allowed online sales by currency dealers to make it easier for people to buy foreign currency.
The Ministry of Information said it had closed the bank accounts of 2,300 people accused of involvement in the currency black market, and they could face legal action, state media reported.
–Reuters
