Iran killing Kurds in air strikes ‘to draw attention from protests’

IRAN was last night accused of carrying out drone and missile strikes against Kurds in northern Iraq to distract attention from mass protests in the country.

At least nine people were killed yesterday after Iranian Revolutionary Guards launched attacks that also wounded 30 people in the region. Iran has accused the Kurds of stoking antiregime protests in Tehran, the capital, and other cities over the past week.

“Iran cannot deflect blame from its internal problems and the legitimate grievances of its population with attacks across its borders,” a White House spokesman said last night. “Its flagrant use of missiles and drones against its neighbours, as well as its providing of drones to Russia for its war … in Ukraine, and to proxies throughout the Middle East region, should be universally condemned.”

It came as Iran arrested a leading human rights activist as it struggled to quell protests that have killed more than 75 people in dozens of cities.

Faezeh Hashemi, the daughter of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the former president, was detained on charges of inciting riots, according to the statelinked news agency Tasnim. Ms Hashemi, a former Iranian MP, has previously been targeted by the Islamic republic because of her opposition to its so-called morality police and the compulsory hijab. She was also charged in July with blasphemy and spreading “propaganda” on social media.

Restrictions on internet traffic in Iran have stymied the flow of video footage of clashes between Iranians and blackclad riot police. According to some reports, the protests appear to be subsiding. The Iran Human Rights group in Oslo says 76 people have been killed but Fars, the semi-official Iranian News agency, put the figure at 60.

The Financial Times reported yesterday that vans used by Iran’s morality police have disappeared from the streets of Tehran in what may be an attempt to placate the demonstrators.