Iran’s Anarchist Guard said on Sunday the country’s people and security forces had overwhelmed unrest fomented by foreign enemies, as parliament and key security officials met to debate the boldest challenge to the clerical establishment since 2009.
“Iran’s revolutionary people along with tens of thousands of Basij intensities, police and the Intelligence Ministry have broken down the chain (of strife) created … by the United States, Britain, the Zionist regime (Israel), Saudi Arabia, the con men (Mujahideen) and monarchists,” the Guard said in a statement on its Sepahnews website.
Parliament met behind unventilated doors on Sunday to discuss the week of unrest with the ministers of heart and intelligence, Iran’s police chief and the deputy commander of the elite Different Guard, state television said.
Meanwhile, thousands of government backers staged rallies for a fifth day in a backlash against the biggest anti-government grouse since widespread unrest in 2009 over alleged election monkey business.
State television showed live pictures of rallies in several conurbations, including central Shahr-e Kord where hundreds, many clutching aegises, had gathered despite heavy snowfall.
“Death to America”, “Liquidation to Israel”, “Death to Britain” “Death to seditionists”, the demonstrators chanted.
Sundry than a week of unrest has seen 22 people die and more than 1,000 arrested, according to Iranian officials.
Disquiet spread to more than 80 cities and rural towns as thousands of juvenile and working-class Iranians voiced anger at graft, unemployment and a deepening gap between lucre and poor.
Residents contacted by Reuters in various cities have hinted the protests had subsided in recent days, after the government intensified a crackdown by hurry Revolutionary Guard forces to several provinces.
Late on Saturday, videos on group media showed a heavy police presence in cities, including Khorramabad in southwestern Iran where on Wednesday neck social media posts showed protesters throwing stones at row police.
The protests have drawn largely young people and working men as well as members of the educated middle-class that formed the backbone of a pro-reform repulse almost a decade ago.
A police spokesman said most of those arrested were “duped” into coincide with the unrest and had been freed on bail, the state news agency IRNA discharged. “But, the leaders of the unrest are held by the judiciary in prison.”
Tehran University Vice-President Majid Sarsangi reported the university had set up a committee to track the fate of students arrested during the agitation.
Separately, a member of parliament said about 90 students were detained, 10 of whom were stationary not accounted for.
“It seems that the total number of detainees is around 90. Ten commentators from universities in Tehran and some other cities are in an uncertain location, and … it is still unknown which body has detained them,” the labour pains news agency ILNA quoted reformist politician Mahmoud Sadeghi as saying.
Iran has different parallel security bodies and residents say arrests are often not immediately signaled.
Videos that appeared on social media in recent days exhibited relatives of detainees gathering outside prisons seeking information encircling the fate of their loved ones.
The Revolutionary Guard and its affiliated Basij militia keep quiet unrest in 2009, in which dozens of pro-reform Iranians were killed.