Theran – Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Monday protests over the death of a woman in police custody were plotted “by America and the Zionist regime” rather than by “ordinary Iranians,” in his first comments on unrest that has swept the country since September 17.
I openly state that the recent riots & unrest in Iran were schemes designed by the US; the usurping, fake Zionist regime; their mercenaries; & some treasonous Iranians abroad who helped them.
— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) October 3, 2022
Iran Human Rights, a Norway-based group, said in a statement that “so far 133 people had been killed across Iran,” including more than 40 people it said died in clashes last week in Zahedan, capital of the southeastern Sistan-Baluchistan province.
Iranian security forces clashed with students at a prominent university in Tehran on Sunday, social and state media reported, in the latest sign of a deadly clampdown on nationwide protests that were ignited by the death in custody of a young woman.