TEHRAN: Iranian police said Monday they had arrested people behind protests that broke out last week in the southwest of the country, state news agency IRNA reported.
“All the perpetrators of an illegal and norm-breaking gathering in Behbahan (city) were identified and arrested,” Khuzestan province’s police chief Heydar Abbas Zadeh was quoted as saying.
He did not say how many people were detained or identify them.
The protests ocurred on Thursday “with a limited number of Behbahan residents gathering and shouting norm-breaking chants,” he said, a term usually used by Iranian authorities to refer to anti-system slogans.
At the time, Behbahan’s police said the crowd did not respond to calls to disperse and security forces broke up the protest “with firmness” and restored “calm” without there being any casualties or damage to property.
The gathering was “to protest the economic situation,” it added.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards announced on Thursday that they had arrested a number of “agitators” who had called for street protests in northeastern Mashhad city, and that they had also broken up a “terrorist group” linked to the People Mujahedeen of Iran (MEK) in southwestern Shiraz.
NetBlocks, a website that monitors international Internet outages, said online access was restricted and disrupted for about three hours in Khuzestan around the time of the protest.
Khuzestan is a key oil-producing region that has often complained of official neglect.
Bordering Iraq, it is one of the few areas in mainly Shiite Iran to have a large Sunni Arab community.
Iran’s economy has shrunk significantly since 2018, when President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the US from a landmark nuclear agreement and reimposed punishing sanctions on the country.
The coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated Iran’s economic woes with a temporary shutdown of the economy and reduced exports, leading to a sharp devaluation of its currency and rising inflation.
Iran arrests ‘perpetrators’ of last week’s protests
https://arab.news/rh2hk
Iran arrests ‘perpetrators’ of last week’s protests
- The protests ocurred on Thursday “with a limited number of Behbahan residents gathering and shouting norm-breaking chants”
Iraq welcomes the appointment of Iran’s new supreme leader
- Armed faction Kataeb Hezbollah said it reflects a profound understanding “of the existential challenges confronting the nation”
BAGHDAD: Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani welcomed on Monday the appointment of Mojtaba Khamenei as Iran’s new supreme leader after his predecessor and father was killed in US and Israeli strikes.
“We express our confidence in the ability of the new leadership in the Islamic Republic of Iran to manage this critical stage,” and to further strengthen “the unity of the Iranian people” amid the current challenges, Sudani said in a statement.
He stressed that Iraq stands in solidarity with Iran and supports “all steps aimed at ending the conflict.”
Iran wields significant influence in Iraqi politics, and also backs armed groups whose power has grown both politically and financially.
Iraq has for decades been a proxy battleground between the US and Iran.
Pro-Tehran Iraqi groups were among the first to welcome the new supreme leader.
The powerful Badr organization said the new leadership represents a “blessed continuity of the path of the Islamic revolution.”
The Asaib Ahl Al-Haq faction said choosing Mojtaba Khamenei shows continuity and “reinforcement of the Islamic republic’s role as a central pillar in the axis of resistance.”
Armed faction Kataeb Hezbollah said it reflects a profound understanding “of the existential challenges confronting the nation.”
“The best successor to the best predecessor,” said Kataeb Hezbollah, which is part of the Islamic Resistance of Iraq — a pro-Iran alliance that has been claiming attacks on US bases since the start of the war in the Middle East.
Senior Iraqi politician and moderate cleric Ammar Al-Hakim wished the new supreme leader “success in following the path of his martyred father... in upholding the word of truth.”
