The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, dismissed the protests that Iran has been watching for weeks as “pre-planned”, blaming the US and Israel, the Islamic Republic’s sworn enemy, behind them.
Protests have been taking place in Iranian cities for nearly three weeks following the death of a young woman, Mahsa Amini, on September 16, three days after she was arrested in Tehran by vice police over her failure to comply with Islamic dress codes.
“I state clearly that these riots and riots were planned by the United States and the usurper and fake Zionist regime, and their mercenaries and some perfidious Iranians abroad helped them,” Khamenei said in statements posted on his official website.
Authorities have denied police involvement in the young woman’s death, calling the demonstrators “rioters” and “terrorists” and have announced the arrest of hundreds of them.
In turn, White House press secretary Karen Jean-Pierre said in a statement aboard Air Force One that the Iranian government’s security campaign is “alarming and horrifying,” noting “reports that security agencies have responded to peaceful student demonstrations.” university violence and widespread arrests.
But Khamenei, the supreme commander of Iran’s armed forces, insists that the police “have a duty to confront criminals and keep society safe.”
He emphasized that “the death of a young girl was bitter and burned my heart”, but considered that “the reaction without any investigation was not normal”.
While he reiterated the follow-up to Amini’s murder investigation, he urged the judiciary to deal “with the rioters according to their level of involvement” in property destruction and security breaches.
He added: “It’s not about the hijab in Iran. Many Iranian women who do not wear the full hijab are among the true supporters of the Islamic Republic regime.”
Amini’s death sparked a wave of solidarity around the world, with demonstrations in more than 150 cities over the weekend during which many women cut their hair in solidarity with Iranian women.
After protests in Iran spread to universities in recent days, local media reported that riot police clashed with hundreds of students from Tehran’s Sharif University of Technology, which is the most important science university in Iran, and the police fired tear gas.
Classes in attendance have been suspended since Monday at the university.
The Mehr news agency reported that the university “announced that all classes will take place virtually from Monday (..) due to recent events and the need to protect students.”
The agency said that two hundred students gathered on Sunday afternoon at the Sharif University of Technology and chanted slogans against the existing religious regime in Iran, as well as the slogans “A woman lives in freedom” and “Students prefer death to humiliation” in protest. against the death of Mahsa Amini and the arrest of students during demonstrations.
The police used shotguns to control the riots and also used tear gas. The agency said civilian security forces and police were deployed in front of the northern entrance to the university on Sunday evening.
In an attempt to mediate the situation, the science minister visited the university to talk to students and security forces deployed around the university, the same source said.
Iran has previously accused foreign powers of fueling demonstrations. Last week, nine foreign nationals were arrested, including people from France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Poland.
“It is hard to bear what is happening at Sharif University in Iran,” German Foreign Minister Annalene Berbrück tweeted on Monday. “The bravery of the Iranians is unbelievable, and the brute force of the regime is an expression of the fears of the authorities.” education and freedom.
The Oslo-based Organization for Human Rights (IHR) released a video of Iranian police officers on motorcycles chasing students as they crashed into an underground car park, and another video of them transporting detainees whose heads were covered in black cloth bags.