Protesters Attack Religious School Near Tehran

Protesters chanting anti-regime slogans in Tehran. AP file photo
Protesters chanting anti-regime slogans in Tehran. AP file photo
TT

Protesters Attack Religious School Near Tehran

Protesters chanting anti-regime slogans in Tehran. AP file photo
Protesters chanting anti-regime slogans in Tehran. AP file photo

Anti-regime protesters have attacked a religious school in Karaj province near Tehran, the Fars news agency reported on Saturday.

"At 9 pm (1530 GMT on Friday) they attacked the school and tried to break the doors down and burn things," Fars quoted the head of the school in the town of Ishtehad, Hojatoleslam Hindiani, as saying.

"They were about 500 people and they chanted against the system but they were dispersed by the riot police and some have been arrested," Hindiani said.

Iranian authorities have barely mentioned days of protests in the cities of Isfahan, Shiraz, Mashhad and Tehran, driven by concerns over the economy as well as wider anger at the political system.

Videos on social media in recent days have shown people chanting "Death to the dictator.”

Foreign media are barred from observing or filming "unauthorized" protests.

Fars later reported that a man taking part in a protest in the northern province of Alborz was fatally shot.

The report said a protest was taking place a day earlier in Karaj when someone fired from a car. There were no additional details.

Fars reported authorities arrested 20 protesters and many of the protest leaders were women.



Iran Tells France to Review ‘Unconstructive’ Approach Ahead of Meeting

Iranian flag flies in front of the UN office building, housing IAEA headquarters, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Vienna, Austria, May 24, 2021. (Reuters)
Iranian flag flies in front of the UN office building, housing IAEA headquarters, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Vienna, Austria, May 24, 2021. (Reuters)
TT

Iran Tells France to Review ‘Unconstructive’ Approach Ahead of Meeting

Iranian flag flies in front of the UN office building, housing IAEA headquarters, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Vienna, Austria, May 24, 2021. (Reuters)
Iranian flag flies in front of the UN office building, housing IAEA headquarters, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Vienna, Austria, May 24, 2021. (Reuters)

Iran's foreign ministry called upon Paris to review its "unconstructive" approach, a few days before Tehran is set to hold a new round of talks about its nuclear program with major European countries.

On Monday, Emmanuel Macron said Tehran's uranium enrichment drive is nearing a point of no return and warned that European partners in a moribund 2015 nuclear deal with Iran should consider reimposing sanctions if no progress is reached.

"Untrue claims by a government that has itself refused to fulfil its obligations under the nuclear deal and has played a major role in (Israel's) acquisition of nuclear weapons is deceitful and projective," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei wrote on X on Wednesday.

France, Germany and Britain were co-signatories to the 2015 deal in which Iran agreed to curb enrichment, seen by the West as a disguised effort to develop nuclear-weapons capability, in return for lifting international sanctions.

Iran says it is enriching uranium for peaceful purposes and has stepped up the program since US President-elect Donald Trump pulled Washington out of the 2015 deal during his first term of office and restored tough US sanctions on Tehran.

French, German and British diplomats are set to hold a follow-up meeting with Iranian counterparts on Jan. 13 after one in November held to discuss the possibility of serious negotiations in coming months to defuse tensions with Tehran, as Trump is due to return to the White House on Jan. 20.

Baghaei did not mention French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot's comment regarding three French citizens held in Iran.

Barrot said on Tuesday that future ties and any lifting of sanctions on Iran would depend on their release.