Iran: Popular protests escalate amid demands to topple the Supreme Leader
The Iranian authorities have accused the West of intervening to inflame the citizens’ anger, and have explicitly accused the United States of specifically using the unrest to try to destabilize the regime. The Iranian regime forgets that public anger is escalating based on the security reactions. The demonstrations have intensified since September 16, due to dozens of deaths and injuries at the hands of the security forces, who deal with the demonstrators with severe violence.
Overthrowing of the rule of the guide
Commenting on the crisis, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that Canada will impose sanctions on those responsible for Amini’s death, including the Iranian moral police unit and its leadership. Trudeau told reporters in Ottawa: “We have seen Iran repeatedly ignoring human rights, and now we see it as the death of a security engineer and the suppression of protests.” It added that what distinguishes these protests is the prominent role of women in Iran, and their objection to the strict restrictions on dress codes. The Hengaw Human Rights Organization (HRO) published a video showing protesters chanting in Sanandaj, the capital of the Kurdistan region, where women have heard heavy gunfire on the streets, and in the Kurdistan region, where the veil has started, Another video posted on social media purported to show security forces opening fire late Monday night during protests in Sardasht, a town with a large Kurdish population.
Iranian claims
The agency added in its report that Iran claimed that the United States intervened to support the rioters, and accused the West of seeking to destabilize the Islamic Republic. In a statement, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanaani said that “Washington always tries to weaken Iran’s stability and security, although it did not succeed”, and accused the leaders of the United States and some European countries of exploiting a tragic incident in support of “troublemakers” and ignoring “the presence of millions in the streets and squares of the country in support of the regime.” The agency confirmed that Iran’s blame for the West comes after its failure to control the anti-government protests, which are the largest in Iran since the demonstrations on fuel prices in 2019, when 150 people were reportedly killed in the suppression of demonstrators, which is the bloodiest domestic unrest in the history of the Islamic Republic, while the latest protests killed at least 41 people since September 1, according to state television.
Although demonstrations over Amini’s death are a major challenge to the government, analysts do not see any significant direct threat to Iran’s leaders because elite security forces have quelled protests in the past, with Iran blaming armed Iranian Kurdish opponents for involvement in the unrest, particularly in the northwest, where most of Iran’s 10 million Kurds live.
