Tehran Mayor Alireza Zakani on Friday accused demonstrators of attacking hospitals and two medical centers, 26 banks, 25 mosques, Basij bases, and law enforcement facilities in order to spread chaos and create a false image.
He said that demonstrators also burned 48 fire trucks, including eight heavy fire engines, and that they “even targeted firefighters while they were trying to extinguish fires.”
A similar statement was made by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who said that “there are also those whose job is destruction.”
“Last night in Tehran and in some other places, a group of vandals came and destroyed a building belonging to their own country. For example, let us assume they destroyed a certain building or wall, just to please the President of the United States (U.S.). Because he said some irrelevant nonsense, ‘if the Iranian government does this and that, I will stand on your side.’ Set aside these hooligans and individuals who are harmful to the country. These people place their hopes in him,” Khamenei said.
He told Trump to deal with the situation in the U.S. instead of Iran, and with the protests after an anti-immigration service agent killed a woman.
“If he can, let him govern his own country! Various incidents are happening in his own country,” the Iranian Supreme Leader concluded.
Meanwhile, Iranian state television released footage that allegedly shows “armed demonstrators shooting at security forces in Kermanshah.”
During the protest on Thursday, demonstrators shouted “Death to the dictator” and “Death to the Islamic Republic,” as well as “This is the final battle, Pahlavi is returning” – referring to the son of Shah Pahlavi, who fled the country after the Iranian Revolution of 1979.
Kaja Kallas condemned the Iranian authorities
The European Union (EU) High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, stated yesterday that images from Tehran show a “disproportionate and brutal response by Iran’s security forces.”
“The people of Iran are fighting for their future. By ignoring their legitimate demands, the regime is showing its true face. Any violence against peaceful demonstrators is unacceptable,” Kallas wrote on the social network X.
She assessed that the internet shutdown in Iran shows the authorities’ fear.
“Shutting down the internet while violently suppressing protests reveals a regime that fears its own people,” Kallas wrote.
