Nine dead, hundreds arrested as fresh protests hit Iran

AFP: Nine people were killed as fresh unrest hit Iran overnight, state television said Tuesday, while hundreds have been arrested as authorities crack down on the biggest anti-regime demonstrations in years.

An attack on a police station in the town of Qahderijan, in the central province of Isfahan, led to six protesters being killed, the state broadcaster reported.

At least three other towns near the cultural hub of Isfahan saw violence overnight, causing the deaths of a young member of the Revolutionary Guards, a policeman and a bystander.

The estimated death toll is now 21 from five days of unrest that represent the biggest challenge to the Islamic regime since mass demonstrations in 2009.

The unrest appears leaderless and focused on provincial towns and cities, with only small and sporadic protests in Tehran on Monday evening where a heavy police presence was reported.

As violence has spread, authorities have stepped up arrests, with at least 450 people detained in the capital since Saturday and 100 more around Isfahan on Monday, officials told local media.

A Revolutionary Guards spokesman said there was no need for them to intervene directly, but they requested the public to report “seditionist elements”.

“We will not permit insecurity to continue in any way in Tehran. If it continues, officials will take decisions to finish it,” said Esmail Kowsari, a deputy commander for a local branch of the Revolutionary Guards, on state television.

Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, described the unrest as a “proxy war against the Iranian people”.

“Hashtags and messages about the situation in Iran come from the United States, Britain and Saudi Arabia,” he told local media.

President Hassan Rouhani has tried to play down the unrest, which began over economic grievances in second city Mashhad last Thursday but quickly turned against the regime as a whole with chants of “Death to the dictator”.

“This is nothing,” he said in a statement on the presidency website, vowing the nation would deal with “this minority who... insult the sanctities and values of the revolution”.

Pro-regime rallies were held across several towns and cities -- reflecting continued support among a large conservative section of society. “With every day that passes, the crimes of those arrested become more serious and their punishment will become heavier. We no longer consider them as protesters demanding rights, but as people targeting the regime,” the head of Tehran’s revolutionary court, Moussa Ghazanfarabadi, told the conservative Tasnim news agency.

Supreme leader blames Iran’s ‘enemies’ for unrest

AFP: Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Iran’s “enemies” were orchestrating a plot to infiltrate and target the regime as he broke his silence Tuesday on the days of unrest rocking the country.

“In the events of recent days, the enemies have united and are using all their means, money, weapons, policies and security services to create problems for the Islamic regime,” Khamenei said in a statement shown on state television. “The enemy is always looking for an opportunity and any crevice to infiltrate and strike the Iranian nation,” he added. A total of 21 people have died in five days of unrest across the country which began as protests over the economy before quickly turning against the Islamic regime as a whole.