Tehran (The Hawk): Up to 15 people, including security personnel and a nine-year-old boy, have been shot dead in Iran as a result of separate incidents during one of the nation's most serious and widespread protest nights in the previous nine weeks.
State news organisations attributed the killing of seven people in a shopping centre in the southern city of Izeh Khuzesta to terrorists riding two motorcycles on the anniversary of the 2019 uprising. However, protesters claimed that Basij militia members went on the rampage and killed several people, including a nine-year-old boy who was riding in a car with his father. Two volunteer Basij patrolmen were among those killed, according to state news agencies, and 10 others were hurt.
Gunshots can be heard as people flee the metro station and fall to the ground.
Iranian police fire at a metro station in Tehran and assault women on a train.
In a separate shooting, five more people—including security personnel—were killed in the Isfahan region. The number of fatalities for the night rose to 15 reports of additional deaths in Kurdistan.
Although witnesses claimed unarmed civilians were shot, internal Iranian news outlets stuck to the government line that the shootings were caused by terrorists from the Islamic State or unidentified anti-government forces.
According to Harana, a human rights organisation, the total number of fatalities during the most recent protests has risen to 348, though it is impossible to confirm the figures. Seminaries were burned down in at least three different cities.
The killings could indicate that the demonstrations are evolving into an armed insurrection, according to government news agencies. The bodies of those who were shot dead will be examined, and there will likely now be a protracted propaganda campaign in which the government will claim that the demonstrations are the catalyst for Iran's "Syrianization" and the breakdown of public order.
Social media videos depicted closed stores in Tehran's Grand Bazaar as protesters yelled anti-government chants. The state, on the other hand, asserts that there is no enthusiasm for these strikes and that organised gangs have been pressuring financially strapped business owners to close their doors.
The difficulty for the regime is that many protesters no longer rely on what they see as completely discredited official sources and instead turn to either internal social media or international Farsi-speaking satellite broadcast channels, like BBC Persian or Iran International. This is acknowledged by many reformist politicians and academics within Iran.
According to the media centre for the judiciary, at least five protesters have now been formally given death sentences, including one for allegedly setting a government building on fire.
Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, was the initial target of the demonstrations, but they have since expanded into a broader anti-regime movement that French President Emmanuel Macron has compared to a revolution.
On Wednesday, Macron said in Bali: "This revolution of Iranian women and young people, defending universal values like gender equality, has changed [the situation there]." It's important to applaud this fight's bravery and legitimacy.
Ahmad Vahiidi, the interior minister of Iran, asserted that several alleged French intelligence agents had been detained. He declared: "In the riots, individuals of various nationalities were detained, some of whom were key participants. There were agents from France's intelligence service, and they will be dealt with legally.
Seven French citizens were detained, possibly in response to Macron's meeting with regime-opposing Iranian exiles.
At a board meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) this week in Vienna, a group of western countries, including France, are getting ready to vote to sanction Iran. The motion criticises Iran for its refusal to assist UN nuclear inspectors in their investigation of its nuclear programme and notes that Iran's uranium stockpile is currently 18 times the cap established by the initial 20115 nuclear agreement.
Louis Bono, the deputy US representative to the IAEA, told the board on Wednesday that Iran's production of uranium with a 60% enrichment had no legitimately peaceful justification.
Raphael Grossi, the director of the IAEA, stated on Wednesday that there had been a lot of activity going on for the past six months that the IAEA was unaware of. He is still holding out hope for a visit to Tehran. If the motion to censure is approved, Iran has threatened to cancel all visits.
The Iranian political establishment is just now becoming aware that the west appears to be reconsidering its entire approach to Iran. Advocates of a revival of the nuclear deal are finding it difficult to gain political traction in light of internal protests and evidence that Iran has been giving Russia drones to use in attacking Ukraine. Given the unavoidable wider diplomatic repercussions, internal Iranian criticism of the decision to support Russia in the Ukraine conflict has so far been insufficient to weaken the influence of hardliners on the country's foreign policy.
(Inputs from Agencies)
