DEATH IN IRAN
2 killed in growing protests as regime vows ‘iron fist’
AT LEAST two people were killed during the third day of protests against Iran’s iron-fisted regime and poor living conditions, according to reports.
Demonstrators throughout the Middle Eastern nation have called for the removal of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader since 1989.
They have also chanted “Death to Rouhani” in reference to Iran President Hassan Rouhani, who earlier this year won a second term in office.
The demonstrations have increased since Friday, as Iranians fed up with a lagging economy have taken to the streets in the nation’s fiercest rallies in almost a decade.
President Trump has signaled his support for Iranians taking a stand against the government, which he has accused of supporting terrorism.
At least 200 people were arrested in the capital city of Tehran Saturday, the ILNA news agency reported. In response to the uprisings, the nation’s Revolutionary Guard has vowed protesters will be met with an “iron fist” should the rallies carry on, the BBC reported.
That apparently began with shutting down Instagram as well as messaging app Telegram, according to Iran’s state-run TV network. Telegram is a popular form of messaging in Iran, and it’s how many in the nation learned of the demonstrations.
Rouhani (below) struck a softer tone later Sunday when he acknowledged the right to protest.
But, he cautioned, the general public shouldn’t “feel concerned about their lives and security.”
Rouhani also conceded the ire goes beyond economic issues, but also about alleged corruption in the Iranian government.
At least two people were killed during a protest in the western Lorestan province, a semiofficial Iran news agency reported.
They reportedly died in Dorud, the regional capital, where officials said the protesters were actually killed by extremist Sunni Muslims and foreign governments.
“The gathering was to be ended peacefully, but due to the presence of the (agitators), unfortunately, this happened,” said Habibollah Khojastepour, the deputy head of security in Lorestan, who reiterated security forces didn’t shoot the ralliers. The recent bout of demonstrations are the fiercest in Iran since the Green Movement, which began in June 2009 and carried on for nearly eight months. Those rallies — considered the largest since the Islamic Revolution in 1979 — were over alleged electoral fraud after the reelection of then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Trump on Sunday tweeted that the “people are finally getting wise as to how their money and wealth is being stolen and squandered on terrorism. Looks like they will not take it any longer. The USA is watching very closely for human rights violations!”
Rouhani quickly condemned Trump’s statements, shooting back that the President “has forgotten that he had called Iranian people ‘terrorists’ a few months ago.”
State television began acknowledging the protests on Saturday, noting 50 people had been arrested since the rallies began two days earlier. Another 80 were reportedly arrested in Arak, a town about 175 miles south of Tehran.
Demonstrators also shouted the name Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran who fled during the Islamist Revolution in 1979 and later died in Egypt.