Foreign Traces in Iran's Protests
© AFP 2023 / JULIEN DE ROSA
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Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian woman of Kurdish origin, was detained in Tehran by the Guidance Patrol and sent for an explanatory interview to a station belonging to the police department and the military intelligence service on September 13.
The young woman later suffered a heart attack at the police center, after which she was immediately taken to a hospital. Three days later, she died.
The girl's sudden death sparked the anger of Iranian youth, and residents rushed to blame the morality police for the assault against the girl. As a result, Iranians in various cities across the country began to gather in the streets to protest, demanding an explanation for Mahsa Amini's death.
In just two days, the protests escalated into riots and bloody clashes with law enforcement and are still going on in a number of provinces.
Iranian authorities claim that these protests bear a western trace:
On October 1, the Ministry of Intelligence announced the arrest of nine citizens from European countries and accused them of "spying and creating unrest" in the country. Among them were citizens of France, Italy, and Spain.
In May the Iranian intelligence service managed to catch and arrest two French citizens (Cecile Kohler, 37, and Chuck Paris, 69) who confessed publicly on camera in early October that they were secret service agents and that their mission was to call for the organization of protests and riots which could lead to the overthrow of the government in Iran.
On October 26, a terrorist attack took place at the Shahcheragh Shrine in the city of Shiraz. An armed perpetrator broke into the mosque during prayers and shot the worshippers. A video of the Daesh* terrorist organization, which has claimed responsibility for the attack, also appeared on the net. Later, Iranian intelligence revealed that the organizer of the attack was an Azerbaijani citizen and that the shooter was a citizen of Tajikistan. The case also involved Afghan nationals as accomplices.
On November 9, the Iranian authorities detained a ship filled with spy equipment and weapons in the Persian Gulf. Amir Mousavi, a representative of Iranian intelligence, stated that “the cargo on the ship belonged to the Saudis, who had sent it as support for rebels in Iran.”
On November 15, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran for the second time summoned the German Ambassador Hans-Udo Muzel to give him a note of protest “for Germany's destructive approaches to internal events in Iran,” and also “coordination of foreign governments and international organizations for strengthening pressure on the internal situation in Iran."
On November 22, Iranian Judiciary Spokesman Masoud Setayeshi said that 40 foreign nationals involved in the organization of riots in Iran had been arrested and would be tried in accordance with the Islamic Penal Code of Iran.
On November 23, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said at a press conference that 76 anti-Iranian terrorist centers were activated in Iraqi Kurdistan, which were sending Israeli and American weapons to western and eastern provinces of Iran.
According to Iranian authorities, the United Kingdom played the most important role in destabilizing the situation in Iran. The London-controlled Persian-language media (BBC Persian and Iran International) have been the most vocal in urging people to take to the streets of Iran and resist law enforcement.
In response, Iran imposed personal sanctions against these British media outlets "for actions that led to riots, violence and terrorist attacks against the Iranian people," and recognized BBC Persian and Iran International as terrorist organizations.
*Daesh (also known as ISIS/ISIL/IS) is a terrorist organization outlawed in Russia and many other states
