The remarks got here after US President Donald Trump warned Iran would “get hit very exhausting by the US” if the authorities killed extra demonstrators.
The protests started on December 28 when shopkeepers in Tehran staged a strike over excessive costs and financial stagnation, however they’ve since unfold to different locations and expanded to incorporate political calls for.
“I instruct the legal professional basic and prosecutors throughout the nation to behave in accordance with the legislation and with resolve towards the rioters and people who help them… and to point out no leniency or indulgence,” Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei stated, in keeping with the judiciary’s Mizan information company.
He went on so as to add that Iran “listens to the protesters and their criticism, and distinguishes between them and rioters”.
Demonstrations have taken place in 25 of Iran’s 31 provinces and affected, to various levels, at the least 45 completely different cities, most of them small or medium-sized and concentrated within the west, in keeping with an AFP tally primarily based on official statements and media experiences.
A minimum of 12 folks have been killed since December 30 in localised clashes, together with members of the safety forces, in keeping with official bulletins.Because the protests started, officers have publicly struck a conciliatory tone relating to protesters’ financial calls for, whereas vowing to take a tough line towards any chaos or destabilisation.
Iran’s financial system has been hit exhausting by robust worldwide sanctions, with the nationwide forex, the rial, shedding greater than a 3rd of its worth towards the US greenback over the previous yr and inflation in double digits.
On Sunday, the federal government introduced a month-to-month allowance for each citizen to alleviate financial stress, equal to round 3.5 % of the typical month-to-month wage.
The reformist newspaper Arman Melli stated Monday that the authorities had “heard the voices of the protesters”, whereas the conservative papers Javan and Kayhan accused the US and Israel of financially supporting rioters.
Watching ‘very intently’
Talking to reporters aboard Air Drive One, Trump stated the US was watching the state of affairs “very intently”.
“If they begin killing folks like they’ve prior to now, I feel they are going to get hit very exhausting by the US,” he stated on Sunday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in the meantime, stated his nation stood “in solidarity with the wrestle of the Iranian folks and with their aspirations for freedom”.
On Monday, Iranian overseas ministry spokesman Esmail Baqaei stated at a press convention attended by AFP journalists that Israel was attempting “to use the slightest alternative to sow division and undermine our nationwide unity”.
Iran’s prosecutor basic Mohammad Movahedi-Azad final week warned towards “externally designed situations” to harness the protests, promising a “decisive response”.
Israel fought a 12-day warfare with Iran in June, which the US briefly joined with restricted strikes on nuclear services.
‘Motion by motion’
The Fars information company stated on Monday that “the pattern noticed on Sunday night time reveals a notable lower within the variety of gatherings and their geographic attain in comparison with earlier nights”.
Native media’s accounting of the protests isn’t exhaustive, and state-run retailers have downplayed their protection of the demonstrations, whereas movies flooding social media are sometimes inconceivable to confirm.
On Monday, most outlets in Tehran had been open and residents had been going about their enterprise after the top of a four-day weekend on Sunday, in keeping with AFP reporters within the capital.
Nonetheless, riot police had been deployed at main intersections and officers had been stationed in entrance of some faculties. A number of universities have resumed lessons, however solely on-line.
Protests have additionally taken place among the many Iranian diaspora.
At an indication in Paris on Sunday, 29-year-old French-Iranian translator Sahar Aghakhani instructed AFP: “With every new protest, Iranian women and men achieve floor. Motion by motion, we’re getting nearer to the top of the regime.”
Iran has skilled a number of outbreaks of nationwide protests in recent times, most notably in 2022 over the loss of life in custody of Mahsa Amini over the alleged breach of Iran’s Islamic gown legal guidelines for ladies.
Thus far, the present protests haven’t reached the identical scale.
