TEHRAN (dpa-AFX) – Iran’s head of state Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has again blamed “foreign powers” for the nationwide protests in autumn. The demonstrations were also cheered on by parts of the global Iranian community “who have turned their backs on their homeland,” Khamenei said. In his speech on Sunday, the 84-year-old spoke of unrest, not protests, and of betrayal by parts of the global Iranian community.
“The people who left here became mercenaries and political agents of Iran’s enemies,” the religious leader told thousands of followers. Khamenei gave the speech on the occasion of the 34th anniversary of the death of revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in his mausoleum in the south of the capital Tehran. Great powers have been rallying against Iran for decades, Khamenei said. “The difference is that today the Iranian nation is stronger, and they (the enemies) have become weaker.”
The nationwide protests in autumn, triggered by the death of the young Kurd Jina Mahsa Amini, plunged the Islamic Republic into the worst political crisis since the founding of the state. Morality guards arrested Amini in mid-September for alleged violations of Islamic dress codes, and she died in a hospital a few days later.
While the protests were initially directed against the headscarf requirement, demonstrators later called for the entire system to be overthrown. In the meantime, everyday life has returned to Iran. However, many women continue to engage in civil disobedience, for example by ignoring the headscarf requirement./arb/DP/mis