Protesters blinded by Iran police

Iran’s supreme leader praised paramilitary volunteers tasked with quashing dissent.

The hardline message came as dozens of eye doctors warned that a rising number of demonstrators have 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: “The Basij should not forget the main clash is with global arrogance, or the US,” he said, echoing previous statements lambasting the protests as a foreign plot to destabilise Iran.

Extolling the military and social virtues of the Basij over the decades, Ayatollah Khamenei said the forces “sacrificed themselves in order to save people from a bunch of rioters and mercenaries”.

The UN Human Rights Council last week voted to set up a fact-finding mission to investigate the crackdown on the anti-government protests triggered by the death of a young woman blamed on the country’s so-called morality police.