Dubai, United Arab Emirates — Protests in Iran raged through the streets through Thursday, with demonstrators recalling a bloody crackdown in the country’s southeast and the country’s intelligence minister and army chief citing local dissent and threats to the wider world. Despite the fact that
Meanwhile, a senior official in Iran’s militia, the Revolutionary Guard, claimed that it had “somehow managed” to possess so-called hypersonic missiles, but offered no proof.
Protests in Iran, sparked by the September 16 death of a 22-year-old woman after being detained by the country’s morality police, followed a chaotic months following Islamization in 1979. It has since grown to be one of the largest and most persistent challenges to the country’s theocracy. revolution.
At least 328 people were killed and 14,825 arrested, according to Iranian human rights activists. The Iranian government has been silent about the casualty figures for weeks, but state media have claimed, contrary to the facts, that security forces have killed no one.
As demonstrators returned to the streets to mark the 40th day of mourning for those previously killed (a common commemoration in Iran and the wider Middle East), the protests turned against an increasingly disillusioned public. It can turn into periodic confrontations between security forces and into greater violence to suppress. they.
Despite government efforts to suppress the internet, online videos emerging from Iran appeared to show demonstrations in the capital Tehran and other cities in the country. of clouds. Cries of “death to the dictator” were heard – a common chant in protests targeting Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Iran’s state news agency IRNA confirmed demonstrations near Isfahan, but it was not immediately clear whether there were any injuries or arrests in the latest wave of protests. Activists say security forces have killed nearly 100 people in deadly violence during demonstrations, marking the Sept. 30 crackdown in the Sistan-Balchestan city of Zahedan. There is
Meanwhile, on Thursday, Guard Chief Amir Ali Hajizadeh said in a speech that his army had acquired a hypersonic missile. However, he provided no photographs, video, or other evidence to support that claim, and the Guard’s vast ballistic missile program is not known to have weapons in its arsenal.
Flying above Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound, hypersonic weapons can pose significant challenges to missile defense systems because of their speed and maneuverability.
China is believed to be pursuing weapons like the United States. Russia claimed to have already deployed the weapons and said it had used them on the battlefields of Ukraine.
“The system is very fast and can be maneuvered both in and out of the atmosphere,” Hajizadeh claimed. It can target missiles outside the Earth’s atmosphere. “
Iranian officials continue to make threats against demonstrators and the wider world. In an interview with Ayatollah Khamenei’s personal website, Iran’s Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib said officials have accused Britain, Israel and the United States of fueling unrest that appeared to be focused on local grievances. renewed threats against Saudi Arabia.
Khatib warned that Iran’s “strategic patience” could run out.
“For a country sitting in a glass house to throw stones at a powerful Iran makes no sense other than to cross the borders of rationality and enter the darkness of stupidity,” Khatib said. “Undoubtedly, if the Islamic Republic of Iran were given the will to retaliate and punish these countries, the Glass Palace would collapse and these countries would become unstable.”
Iran has accused Iran International, a London-based Persian-language satellite news channel once majority-owned by Saudi citizens, of inciting the protests. The broadcaster recently said London’s Metropolitan Police had warned that two of the British and Iranian journalists faced threats from Iran.
Last week, US officials said Saudi Arabia shared information with the US that suggested Iran may be preparing an imminent attack on the kingdom. Threats from Tehran have continued, but Iran later called the allegations “unfounded.”
The Iranian regular army ground force commander, General Brig.
“If these flies are not treated today as the revolutionary society expects, it is the will of the supreme leader of the revolution,” he was quoted as saying. country location.
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Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.
