Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei acknowledged that thousands of people were killed during the protests that engulfed the country over the past two weeks, but blamed the US for the toll.
In a speech on Saturday, Mr Khamenei said thousands had been killed, “some in an inhuman, savage manner”. More than 3,300 people have been killed in protests that broke out at the end of last month, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA). An continuing internet blackout has made it difficult to obtain information from inside Iran.
“Those linked to Israel and the US caused massive damage and killed several thousand,” he said, quoted by Iranian state media, adding that they started fires, destroyed public property and caused disruption. They “committed crimes and a grave slander”, Mr Khamenei said.
The protests against economic hardship began on December 28 and swelled into widespread demonstrations calling for the end of clerical rule in the Islamic Republic.
Last week, Iran's prosecutor general said those arrested would face severe punishment. Those held included people who “aided rioters and terrorists attacking security forces and public property” and “mercenaries who took up arms and spread fear among citizens,” he said.
“All perpetrators are mohareb,” state media quoted Mohammad Movahedi Azad as saying, adding that investigations would be conducted “without leniency, mercy or tolerance”.
Mohareb, an Islamic legal term meaning to wage war against God, is punishable by death under Iranian law.
State media have reported the arrest of thousands of rioters and terrorists across the country, including people linked to opposition groups abroad that advocate the overthrow of the Islamic Republic.
The arrests included several people Iranian state media described as “ringleaders”, including a woman named as Nazanin Baradaran, who was taken into custody following “complex intelligence operations”.
Events in Iran have drawn widespread criticism, particularly from the US, triggering fears of a renewed conflict between the two arch foes. “We consider the US President criminal for the casualties, damages and slander he inflicted on the Iranian nation,” Mr Khamenei said in his speech.
President Donald Trump repeatedly threatened to intervene if Iran did not stop cracking down on protesters, including by threatening “very strong action” if Iran executed them.
But on Friday, in a social media post, he thanked Tehran's leaders, saying they had called off mass hangings. Iran said there was “no plan to hang people”.
