Demonstration in Iran. (Reuters)
Digital Desk, New Delhi. Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said that the rioters will be taken to their rightful place. Obviously, Khamenei has given the message of giving strict punishment to the people involved in the ongoing protests in the country.
It is learned that the government has instructed the security forces to deal strictly with the protesters. Meanwhile, two more people have been reported dead in the atmosphere of violence and anarchy, taking the death toll in the week-long protests to 10.
The 86-year-old supreme leader's reaction to anti-government protests in Iran has come to light for the first time. Meanwhile, there has been no reduction in anti-government protests in other cities of the country including the capital Tehran.
Troubled by the country's weakening economy, falling value of the Rial and inflation, people are protesting against the government and also damaging government properties.
On these protests, US President Donald Trump has said that people protesting peacefully are being killed in a barbaric manner. If the repression of the protesters does not stop, America will come to save them. But Trump has not made it clear what kind of intervention America will take in Iran.
The latest protests are the biggest opposition to the government since the weeks-long women's movement in 2022. In 2022, 22-year-old girl Mahsa Amini was arrested by the police for coming on the road with her head uncovered and later died in police custody. After Mahsa's death in custody, protests against the fundamentalist government erupted in Iran and women in many cities protested by cutting their hair and burning hijabs in public places.
Addressing a gathering of people in Tehran on Saturday, Khamenei expressed disappointment over the unrest spreading in the cities. Said that due to the rioters, Iran's image in the world is being damaged and the country's currency Rial is falling.
Said, government officials are talking to the protesters. But there will be no talk with the rioters, they will be sent to their rightful place. Iran's enemies are carrying out acts that harm the rial, he said. Enemy forces are giving all kinds of support to such rioters. These rioters are involved in a conspiracy to harm the Islamic nation in the name of Islam.
(With inputs from news agency AP)