ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Monday refused to acknowledge the existence of deep grievances in the country following three weeks of nationwide protests sparked by the death of a Kurdish woman in police custody, blaming arch-foes US and Israel for plotting the unrest to stop the progress of his regime instead.
“In this incident ... a young girl died … but the reaction to this incident … for some to come and create unrest in the streets, burn the Quran, unveil women forcefully, burn mosques, and people’s vehicles, is not a natural and normal reaction,” Khamenei said while attending a graduation ceremony of a military academy in Tehran on Monday, his website reported.
“I can say categorically that these riots and insecurity is the plot of the United States and the Zionist regime … and people on their pay and some treacherous Iranians living abroad who helped them,” he added. His attendance at the event followed rumors of his deteriorating health reported last month.
More than 100 people have died in protests triggered by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa (Zhina) Amini while in the custody of Tehran’s morality police. Iranian authorities have cited heart failure as the cause of her death but her family and lawyer say she died from torture and was beaten.
Iranian security forces have unleashed a harsh crackdown killing at least 133 people, the Oslo-based Iran Human Rights Organization (IHR) said on Sunday. Hundreds of others have been wounded and dozens are arrested. Security forces in uniform and plain clothes attacked a gathering of students at Sharif University of Technology on Sunday night, wounding a few and barricading several hundred in a confined space for hours, students from Tehran said.
Iranian authorities ordered security forces to “systematically crush the protests at any cost,” according to Amnesty International.
Amini’s death united Iranians from all walks of life in an unprecedented way that has created a serious challenge to the regime in Tehran. Many Iranian celebrities and even officials have criticized the police for their actions but the protests have morphed into a real push for the overthrow of the regime.
Khamenei criticized those in Iran who did not see the hands of Israel and US intelligence in the unrest and called on them to immediately repent and declare their support for the Islamic Republic.
Khamenei said that the reason for the interference of the foreign powers in Iran is because they know that Iran is progressing fast and they cannot tolerate this.
The US “pursues plots to create riots and destroy the security of the country,” said the leader.
Global rallies were held in solidarity with Amini’s death with people taking to the streets of dozens of cities, with many symbolically cutting off their hair.
Khamenei said that all the people on the streets should not be dealt with in the same way because “there are teenagers who have come to the street because of the excitement of an internet program,” and added that others involved in the destruction of property should be arrested and tried.
