Iran’s spiritual leader, Ali Khamenei, played down the school students’ protests, saying that their movement was manipulated by “the owners of plans and agendas,” while demonstrations continued across Iranian universities.
Videos on social media showing Iranian security forces severely beating protesters have gone viral as anger grows at a widening crackdown with arrests of prominent figures from rappers to economists and lawyers aimed at ending seven weeks of unrest.
Anti-regime rallies have swept the country since the death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of the morality police seven weeks ago, after she was arrested for an alleged breach of the country’s strict dress code for women.
The protests constitute one of the most difficult challenges facing Iran’s clerical leaders in decades. The country’s authorities have tried to accuse Iran’s enemies abroad and their agents of fueling the protest movement, a narrative that few Iranians believe.
Khamenei accused the United States, Israel, some “malignant European powers” and some groups of waging a "combined war". He said that they “used all their energies to harm the Iranian people.”
His comments came after the Intelligence Ministry and the IRGC issued a joint statement on Friday, accusing the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Israeli Mossad of being behind the protests. The statement accused two female journalists, who were arrested by the authorities, of being “agents” to these bodies.
Khamenei expressed his satisfaction with the security services’ reports, saying that they have proven that the “enemy planned riots in Tehran and major and small cities.”
Reuters quoted Khamenei as saying on Wednesday that US officials who support protests are “shameless”.
“Those who think the US is an untouchable power are wrong,” Khamenei said. “It is completely vulnerable as seen with current events.”
He continued: “America’s fingerprints can be seen in most of the anti-Iranian events”, stressing that the Iranian people had managed to “thwart enemy plots.”
“We will not forget some incidents, and we will fulfill our promise regarding (...) Soleimani at the appropriate time,” he warned, referring to the US forces’ killing of IRGC General Qassem Soleimani in Iraq in January 2020.
Khamanei’s comments came as Iran prepares to celebrate Student’s Day next Saturday, the anniversary of the storming of the US Embassy by students supporting the first Iranian leader (Khomeini) in 1979, and taking 53 diplomats hostage for 444 days.
The state-run Mehr news agency reported that Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi would address the annual demonstration, which mobilizes government agencies every year.
Defying a harsh warning by the chief of the widely feared Revolutionary Guards, Iranians have risked their lives and arrest by remaining in the street despite a bloody crackdown.
Student strikes were renewed across the country. Students of Balochistan University resisted the deployment of security forces, chanting slogans and warning against suppressing their movement, according to a video recording published by the account of the Coordinating Committee of Iranian University Students’ Unions.
In the province of Kurdistan, students crowded into Mariwan University. In Shiraz, in the south of the country, students organized a protest rally to demand the release of detainees. The Khawaja Naseer Industrial University in Tehran and Rasht University issued separate statements, condemning the arrest of students, and calling on the authorities to respect the right to protest. Earlier this week, student unions have published similar statements at many universities.
Crackdown on protests
A video that went viral on social media showed a dozen riot police beating a man at night on a street in southern Tehran. One of the officers on a motorbike ran him over then another shot him at close range.
“This shocking video sent from Tehran today is another horrific reminder that the cruelty of Iran’s security forces knows no bounds,” Amnesty International said on Twitter about the video.
“Amid a crisis of impunity, they’re given free rein to brutally beat & shoot protesters. @UN_HRC must urgently investigate these crimes.”
Iran’s police said in a communique on Tuesday that a special order was issued to examine the details of a video showing police officers beating a citizen, without giving any detail on the video in question.
“The police does not approve of harsh and unconventional treatment, the offending police officers will certainly be dealt with according to the law,” the statement read, according to Tasnim news agency.
The activist HRANA news agency said around 300 people had been killed in the unrest, including 46 minors. Iran said at least 36 members of the security forces were also killed.
Some 14,160 people have been arrested, including about 300 students, in protests in 133 cities and towns, and 129 universities, it said.
On Monday night, security forces went to the house of prominent economist Davoud Souri and arrested him. The officers took his laptop and mobile phone with them, and after his arrest, they informed his family that he was at Evin prison, according to a social media post that Reuters could not verify.
Iranian media published on Wednesday a video of the arrest of famous Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi, showing him blindfolded and saying he did not mean what he had said in previous comments critical of the authorities.
He was detained following his release of several rap clips in support of the protests.
