Iranian police have arrested 139 foreign nationals in the central province of Yazd over their alleged participation in recent protests, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Tuesday.
Yazd, a predominantly desert province with a population of more than 1 million, was one of many provinces affected by nationwide protests last month.
The protests, which began in December over economic hardship, have become the most acute political challenge facing the Iranian government since the Islamic Revolution in 1979.
Tehran has repeatedly accused the US and Israel of inciting the protests.
They have now abated following suppression, with the official death toll from the unrest at 3,117. The US-based group Human Rights Activists News Agency puts the toll far higher, saying in its latest update on Monday that it had so far verified 6,854 deaths, most of them protesters.
“These foreign individuals played an active role in organising, inciting, and directing riotous actions, and in some cases were in contact with networks abroad,” Yazd's police commander Ahmad Negahban was quoted as saying by Tasnim.
The official added that a “judicial investigation into the case of these individuals is under way in accordance with the current laws and regulations of the country”.
Iran's judicial authorities have warned of severe consequences for detainees who committed violent acts during the protests.
“Those who played a role in this American sedition and supported it will not be spared,” judiciary representative Asghar Jahangir said on Tuesday.
Iranian media reported on Monday the arrest of four foreigners in Tehran over last month's unrest, marking a shift from earlier reports announcing daily arrests of suspected protest ringleaders without pointing to foreign nationals.
Following a 12-day war in June in which Israel relied on agents in Iran for its early offensive, Tehran accelerated a campaign to deport mainly Afghan nationals, who represent the largest foreign community in the country.
