An Iranian security report on the recent protests revealed that the Iranians' confidence in the regime is declining in general, according to Iranian Deputy Minister of Interior for Security and Disciplinary Hossein Zolfaghari.
Few days ago, Iran’s Interior Minister announced that it has presented a comprehensive security report on the recent riots, which lasted for more than 10 days in several Iranian cities, to President Hassan Rouhani.
Zolfaghari explained that the report identifies three major issues as reasons for the protests in Iran: "a decline in public confidence", "mismanagement of public opinion" and "continued activity by foreign enemies."
“The protests have seen a change in the level of protestors and slogans that have taken a more radical approach," Zolfaghari was quoted as saying by the state-run ISNA news agency.
According to official statistics, 37 percent of the protests were due to economic reasons and 74 percent were calls against the performance of unlicensed financial institutions.
"After paying 11 trillion toman from the country's treasury to compensate more than 90 percent of those affected and investors, the expectations were to resolve the issues related to this protesting segment, but unfortunately the officials did not see it properly," the report said.
It also criticized the lack of transparency in the level of financial corruption in those institutions, which led to the protests.
Zolfaghari also pointed to statistics on the composition of the protests in terms of age and education level. He said that 59 percent of the participants in the protests had a high school certificate and below in terms of educations while 26 percent were university graduates and 15 percent had even higher degrees.
Also, 84 percent of the participants were under 35 and have no "security backgrounds," according to the statistics.
The report mentions three main factors in the rise in protests. The first factor is resembled in the decline of public confidence, including the decline of the effectiveness of institutions and agencies in dealing with the current conditions in the Iranian society, and resentment as a result of internal conflict and some points of weaknesses.
The second factor refers to the mismanagement of public opinion, the increase of claims and expectations, both in electoral and political competitions, without taking into account the sources and potentials of the country, that led to the accumulation of unrealized expectations and popular discontent.
The third factor, according to the report, points out to the content of accusations made by senior officials to foreign parties, saying they "stand behind the protests."
The report notes the continued activity of foreign enemies, including the USA and its allies in the region and the opposition parties.
