Page 7 - IRANRptOct22

2.0 Politics
2.1 Iran’s supreme leader blames US, Israel for unrest in
first comments on protests
Iran protests death toll ‘has reached at least 83’
Iran's supreme leader has blamed the US and Israel for the protests that have swept the country for more than two weeks after Friday prayers on September 30 in Zahedan, Amnesty International said on October 6.
In what were his first public comments on the unrest—which has morphed into anti-regime demonstrations, but was initially triggered by the uproar over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who fell into a coma and died after being detained by Tehran morality police for allegedly breaking the Islamic dress code by loosely wearing a hijab, or headscarf—Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said "riots" were "engineered" by Iran's arch-foes and their allies. He gave his strong backing to the security forces.
President Joe Biden, meanwhile, issued a statement saying he was "gravely concerned" that there were reports of an "intensifying violent crackdown on peaceful protestors".
Norway-based Iran Human Rights said on October 2 that at least 133 people had been killed by security forces in the unrest so far. There are fears the total could be much higher. After Iran put down unrest it experienced in 2019, a Reuters analysis concluded that around 1,500 people were killed in the security response.
The protesters in the demonstrations prompted by the death of Amini were calling for "just and universal principles", Biden added. The US "stands with Iranian women" who were "inspiring the world with their bravery", he added. Women have led the protests, waving their headscarves in the air or setting them on fire. "Woman, life, freedom!" has become a rallying cry in the unrest. Khamenei spoke while addressing a graduation ceremony of police and armed forces cadets.
He told his audience that Amini's death “broke our hearts”, but hit out at some of the reaction, saying that “what is not normal is that some people, without proof or an investigation, have made the streets dangerous, burned the Quran, removed hijabs from veiled women and set fire to mosques and cars". Unfriendly foreign countries had planned the "rioting" because they could not tolerate Iran "attaining strength in all spheres", he said.
Back in Iran, on October 2, protests erupted on streets and university grounds in the central city of Isfahan. Video footage showed hundreds of students chanting against the regime. There were also reports of a possibly deadly clash between students and security forces at Tehran’s Sharif University, traditionally a hotbed of dissent, on October 1, while Iranian state media shared a video of pro-government students, who gathered at Ferdowsi university in Mashhad, chanting "the Islamic Republic is our red line".The death toll in the protests that have swept Iran Iran for almost two weeks is now at least 83, including women and children, Norway-based Iran Human Rights said on September 29.
7 IRAN Country Report October 2022 www.intellinews.com