(CNSNews.com) – Four weeks after the start of what has become the biggest demonstration of anti-regime sentiment in many years, protests in Iran are continuing, even as supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei tries to play them down as “sporadic” and foreign-instigated.
Despite an Internet blackout, video clips and reports posted by dissident and human rights groups outside the country show mostly young people, chanting slogans on the street including “Death to the dictator!” and “Women! Life! Freedom!”
Women and girls are seen removing and sometimes burning headscarves, or cutting their hair in protest against the clerical regime’s mandatory hijab regulations. The protests were sparked by the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died on September 16 after being arrested by “morality police” and allegedly assaulted.
General strikes are being reported in Tehran and Iran’s second largest city, Mashhad, with workers in the oil and gas sectors joining in, demanding the release of protestors who have been detained
The advocacy organization Iran Human Rights reports that more than 200 people, including at least 23 children, have been killed in clashes with security forces, with deaths reported in 18 of Iran’s 31 provinces.
In his latest public comments on the situation, Khamenei doubled down on his earlier claims of a foreign hand behind the “sporadic riots.”
“The enemy’s role and interference is clear and obvious to everyone, even to impartial foreign experts,” he told a meeting in Tehran of the Expediency Council, a regime body that advises the supreme leader.
“These events aren’t a domestic, spontaneous matter. The actions taken by the enemy, their propaganda, their efforts to influence people’s minds, the creation of excitement, and the way they have been encouraging and even teaching people to make flammable and explosive materials, are now completely clear and obvious.”
Khamenei said Iran’s enemies were reacting to the fact that the nation – which he described as “religiously inclined and [one that] adheres to religious values and issues” – was standing diametrically opposed to “the policies of the global Arrogant Powers.”
“The initiative is in the hands of the Iranian nation and the enemy was forced to react in a clumsy and foolish manner and so they started planning the riots.”
The ayatollah said the only solution was for Iran to stand firm against “the plots and meddlesome behavior of these devils.” Doing so will “become the basis of our movement forward.”
Reacting to the supreme leader’s latest allegations, the exiled dissident group Mujahideen-e Khalq said he was “in total denial” as he describes the protests as not spontaneous and driven by enemy propaganda.
“Meanwhile, protesters less than a mile from his office chanted ‘Death to Khamenei,’” it said. “The ailing and ruthless dictator for life signaled, not unexpectedly, that he does not listen and will not correct his behavior. The only avenue that he left open for change is the toppling of the entirety of his regime by the Iranian people who have shown they want fundamental change.”
Since the protests began the U.S. government has twice announced sanctions on senior officials in the “morality police,” the notorious Basij militia, and other security agencies. It also issued a general license to facilitate tech companies’ efforts to help Iranians use the Internet to communicate with each other and the outside world.
“It has been remarkable to see the fearlessness, the bravery, the principle, and the principled courage of women and girls and their allies on the streets in Iran – workers striking, students marching, and people demanding their basic rights and dignity,” National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said during a teleconference briefing on Wednesday.
Pointing to the steps the administration has taken so far to facilitate Internet use and to impose costs on those involved in the repression, he said the U.S. would continue to take such actions.
“We can’t make any predictions about where this goes,” Sullivan said. “All we can do is stand on principle and try to be very clear about who side we're on and that is what we will continue to do.”