Page 10 - IRANRptDec19

2.5​ ​Protesters set fire to Iran’s Najaf consulate in Iraq
Protesters on November 27 set fire to Iran's consulate in the southern Iraqi city of Najaf, AFP, Reuters and DPA reported.
Chanting "Victory to Iraq" and "Iran out" the protesters reportedly stormed the consulate late in the day and set the entire building ablaze. Police and civil defence sources were cited as saying staff at the consulate were evacuated before the attack occurred.
Demonstrators have for two months been protesting against what they claim is Tehran’s huge influence on, and protection of, a government that is badly failing Iraq. The attack on the consulate came on the same day that officials in Iran ​stepped up their narrative​ that the recent nationwide protests in Iran, which grew out of rallies against a sudden petrol price hike, were the result of a conspiracy backed by foes of Tehran, specifically the US, Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Security forces used tear gas and live ammunition to try to disperse the protesters in Najaf, some reports said.
The anti-government protests in Iraq erupted in early October over corruption and poor government services. More than 340 people are thought to have lost their lives in the unrest. Protesters have been further angered by speculation that Iranian snipers have been used to shoot dead some participants in protests.
Protesters in Baghdad and Iraq’s Shi’ite-majority south have called for the resignation of the government, the dissolution of parliament and an overhaul of the country's political system.
Shi’ite Iran maintains ​close ties​ to political parties and paramilitary groups that dominate Iraq's state institutions and parliament.
2.6​ Iran claims victory over unrest, mostly back online after unprecedented shutdown
Sudden hike
November 21 saw Iranian President Hassan Rouhani declare to a government meeting in Tehran that the Islamic Republic had proved "victorious in yet another test". ​He added that "despite the country's economic problems and existing grievances," Iran had demonstrated it "would never allow the balance to tilt in favour of the enemy," according to state broadcaster Press TV.
Rouhani has suggested that by far most of the protesters were not Iranians but anti-government forces "pre-planned by the reactionary regional regimes, the Zionists, and the Americans" and intent on sowing anarchy. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the clerical ruler who is the country’s top political authority, has remarked that the protests were related to security issues, rather than a movement by the Iranian people. “Both friends and foes should know that we have repelled the enemy," state news agency IRNA reported.
In an unprecedented move for a big country, national security officials in
10​ IRAN Country Report​ December 2019 www.intellinews.com