Iran has accused the United States of using the protests of millions of people who have taken to the country’s streets in the past 10 days to try to destabilize the regime.
“Washington is always trying to weaken Iran’s stability and security, although it has not been successful,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said in a statement on Monday.
Several Iranian cities have had anti-government demonstrations, often violent, since the recent death of Mahsa Amini in police custody. The 22-year-old woman was arrested in Tehran by customs officials for not wearing the hijab, the veil that completely covers the hair – Iran also prohibits the wearing of torn pants and shiny clothes.
On his Instagram account, Kanaani accused the leaders of the US and some European countries of abusing a tragic incident to support protesters and ignore the presence of millions of people in the country’s streets and squares favorable to the regime.
Last week, Washington imposed sanctions on the Iranian morale police over allegations of abuse of women, saying it held the unit accountable for Amini’s death. In his speech to the UN General Assembly, US President Joe Biden praised the women of Iran, whom he called courageous.
Amini’s death has sparked increasing international reprisal. On Monday, Canada said it would impose sanctions on dozens of Iranian officials and entities, including the morality police.
“We join our voices, the voices of all Canadians, with those of millions of people around the world demanding that the Iranian government listen to its people, end the repression of freedoms and rights and allow women and all Iranians to live their lives. and express themselves peacefully,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told a news conference.
Also on Monday, Germany summoned the Iranian ambassador to Berlin. Asked about the possibility of further sanctions on Tehran in response to the protests, a German foreign ministry spokesman said the country would consider “all options” along with other EU members.
On Sunday, Iran summoned British and Norwegian ambassadors over what it called interference and hostile media coverage of the demonstrations, the most violent to take to the country’s streets since 2019, when uprisings against rising prices for fuels resulted in at least 1,500 deaths.
This time, at least 41 have already lost their lives in the protests, Iranian state television reported, most of them protesters and the rest officers of the armed forces. The NGO Human Rights of Iran, based in Norway, puts the count at 76 dead, but points out that the internet cuts promoted by the government of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei make it difficult to confirm the balance of the protests.
So far, more than 1,200 have been arrested by security forces in northern Iran, according to a tally by local authorities released on Monday. About 450 people were detained in Mazandaran and more than 700 in neighboring Gilan province. There are no data for the other regions.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CJP) reported that 18 reporters had been detained since the protests began.
The acts are marked by strong female participation – women have burned their veils in bonfires or cut their hair, in defiance of the Islamic dress code in force in the country.
Security forces used lethal and rubber bullets, according to human rights groups, as protesters responded with stones, burned police cars and set public buildings on fire.
The government has sponsored demonstrations to contain the crisis, organizing rallies in several cities in support of the hijab. President Ebrahim Raisi said the country guarantees freedom of expression and that Amini’s death will be investigated.
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