Supreme leader praises paramilitary
Iran’s supreme leader praised paramilitary volunteers tasked with quashing dissent yesterday in a televised address as dozens of eye doctors warned that a rising number of demonstrators had been blinded by security forces during anti-government protests. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei addressed members of the Basij, the volunteer paramilitary wing of the elite Revolutionary Guard, and reiterated unsupported claims that protesters demonstrating countrywide are ‘‘tools’’ of the US and its ‘‘mercenaries’’. ‘‘[The] Basij should not forget that the main clash is with global hegemony,’’ Khamenei said.