 "Iran faces largest unrest since 2022 as economic protests spread and turn deadly, at least 7 dead")
Iranian authorities have reported seven deaths across the country’s rural provinces as protests over economic downfall turned violent over the week.
While the demonstrations have been largely quelled in the Iranian capital of Tehran by the government, they have spread across the country’s rural areas. The fatalities, two on Wednesday and five on Thursday, occurred in four cities, largely home to Iran’s Lur ethnic group.
This marks the biggest protests Iran has seen since the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, which sparked widespread outrage in the country in 2022. However, the demonstrations have yet to be countrywide and have not been as intense as those surrounding the death of Amini, who was detained over not wearing her hijab, or headscarf, to the liking of authorities.
Protests in Iran
The most intense violence appeared to strike Azna, a city in Iran’s Lorestan province, some 300 kilometres (185 miles) southwest of Tehran. There, online videos purported to show objects in the street ablaze and gunfire echoing as people shouted: “Shameless! Shameless!”
In Lordegan, a city in Iran’s Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province, online videos showed demonstrators gathered on a street, with the sound of gunfire in the background. The footage matched known features of Lordegan, some 470 kilometres (290 miles) south of Tehran.
The Washington-based Abdorrahman Boroumand Centre for Human Rights in Iran said two people had been killed there, identifying the dead as demonstrators. It also shared a still image of what appeared to be an Iranian police officer, wearing body armour and wielding a shotgun.
‘Intimidation and arrests’
Responding to the recent violent clashes, the US State Department expressed concern about reports that protesters were facing “intimidation, violence, and arrests” and called on the authorities to end the crackdown.
“First the bazaars. Then the students. Now the whole country. Iranians are united. Different lives, one demand: respect our voices and our rights,” the State Department said in a post on its Farsi account on X.
Iran’s civilian government under reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian has been trying to signal it wants to negotiate with protesters. However, Pezeshkian has acknowledged there is not much he can do as Iran’s rial currency has rapidly depreciated, with $1 now costing some 1.4 million rials.
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View AllMeanwhile, state television separately reported on the arrests of seven people, including five it described as monarchists and two others it said had linked to European-based groups. State TV also said another operation saw security forces confiscate 100 smuggled pistols, without elaborating.
With inputs from agencies
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