Death Toll Rises in Iran as Anti-Government Protests Continue

Twenty-one people are believed to have been killed in Iran during the ongoing unrest and demonstrations against “weak economy” and “corruption.”

A series of demonstrations broke out between Iranian protesters and the country’s authorities on December 27, 2017 in Iran’s major cities, including Tehran and Mashhad. Protesters took to the street to denounce to corruption and rising prices of goods, as well as the country’s “involvement in conflicts” in the Middle East, according to international media.

Protesters are flocking the country’s streets, chanting slogans against Iran’s President, Hassan Rouhani as well as Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader. During the weekend, Iranian law enforcement arrested hundreds of activists who were taking part in the protests.

On Tuesday, January 2, the state TV reported the death of six citizens during an attack on a police station in the town of Qahdarijan. Ilna news agency said that 450 people were arrested in Tehran since Saturday. Authorities have not, however, revealed the total number of people arrested during the protests.

On Monday, Rouhani held talks with Iran’s members of parliaments, acknowledging protesters’ anger over the country’s economy. However, the president warned that “the government would not hesitate to crackdown on those it considered lawbreakers,” according to British news outlet The Guardian. For their part, Iran’s officials insisted that the meeting with parliamentarians was held before the unrest.

US President Donald Trump, who has been vowing to withdraw from the Obama-era nuclear agreement with Iran, said that this latter “is failing at every level despite the terrible deal made with them by the Obama Administration.”

Trump added in a tweet that “the Iranian people have been repressed for many years. They are hungry for food and for freedom. Along with human rights, the wealth of Iran is being looted,” adding that it is “time for change!”
Iran’s ongoing demonstrations are the largest in the country since 2009, when protests broke out against the results of the 2009 Iranian presidential election in support of opposition candidates Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi. The protests, dubbed “Iranian Green Movement,” took place in major cities from June 2009 into early 2010.