Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said Saturday that the United States has failed in its attempt to harass a revolt in Iran following models such as those in Libya or Syria, where protests led to civil wars.
«Riots and attempts to establish the case in the country are not the same as protests. We must react against riots and against those who try to create insecurity,» Raisi said during a meeting with students in Tehran, according to the Iranian news agency Tasnim.
«The conspiracies to foment insecurity in the country have ended in failure,» Raisi reiterated, for whom security has been restored in all the country’s cities.
Raisi has taken the opportunity to urge students to appreciate the progress made by Iran despite the pressure of sanctions. «Iran’s determination to strengthen itself has forced the enemy to seek new conspiracies,» he stressed.
Just this Saturday, the U.S.-based NGO Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) put the death toll at 341 since the outbreak nearly two months ago of protests against Iranian authorities over the death in custody of young Mahsa Amini for improperly wearing the veil.
HRANA reports at least 47 children and 38 members of the security forces among the dead. In addition, some 14,000 people have been arrested in the protests, which have spread to more than 130 localities in the country, according to its balance sheet for Saturday, published on its Twitter account.
For its part, the NGO Iran Human Rights puts the death toll at 277 as of Wednesday, including 40 children under the age of 18. The organization, which recalls that these estimates are an «absolute minimum», notes deaths in 22 provinces, with the highest number reported in Sistan and Baluchistan, Mazandaran, Tehran, Kurdistan and Gilan, respectively.
Official Iranian media reported approximately 40 deaths by the end of September, two weeks after Amini’s death.
