Street protests have claimed at least 13 lives
At least 13 people have been killed as violent street protests in Iran continued for a fifth day yesterday, amid a crackdown on the spontaneous “nationwide mass uprising” against the Islamic regime.
Ten people were killed yesterday by security forces when protesters tried to overrun a military base and police station. A police officer was shot by a person with a hunting rifle yesterday during a demonstration, according to a semi-official state news agency. Two people were killed in previous days.
Alireza Nader of the RAND Corp. said no single factor or group is behind the protests that he called “a nationwide mass uprising.”
“The government has to realize that the people are fed up with it,” Nader told the Herald, “and if it wants to prevent massive violence they should take steps to address concerns and grievances. I don’t expect that to happen. This is (a) highly corrupt and repressive government and that is why it is facing this situation.”
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani blamed foreign “enemies of the Islamic Republic” but acknowledged “there are some of them who are protesting for their own feelings and problems.”
The demonstrations, the largest since Iran’s disputed 2009 presidential election, initially started Thursday over economic issues. Hundreds have been arrested.
Nader said the U.S. could back the protests by rescinding President Trump’s travel ban on Iranians and by pressuring technology companies, like the messaging app Telegram — shut down by Iran — to not bow to pressure.
Trump tweeted yesterday, “The great Iranian people have been repressed for many years. They are hungry for food & for freedom. Along with human rights, the wealth of Iran is being looted. TIME FOR CHANGE!”
Karim Sadjadpour of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said yesterday the “Islamic Republic’s four-decade history of brutality suggests that change will not come easily, or peacefully, or soon.”