Iran supreme leader blames US, Israel for Mahsa Amini protests

PARIS: Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Monday accused arch-foes the United States and Israel of fomenting the wave of nationwide unrest sparked by outrage over the death of Mahsa Amini.

“I say clearly that these riots and the insecurity were engineered by America and the occupying, false Zionist regime, as well as their paid agents, with the help of some traitorous Iranians abroad,” the Islamic republic’s leader said.

Amini, 22, was pronounced dead on September 16, days after the notorious morality police detained the Kurdish Iranian for allegedly breaching rules forcing women to wear hijab headscarves and modest clothes.

Anger over Amini’s death has sparked the biggest wave of protests to rock the Islamic republic in almost three years, with security forces in Tehran cracking down on hundreds of university students on Sunday night.

The United States on Monday said it was “alarmed and appalled by reports of security authorities responding to university students4 peaceful protests with violence and mass arrests”, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.

In his first public comments since Amini’s death, 83-year-old Khamenei stressed that police must “stand up to criminals”.“The death of the young woman broke our hearts,” said Khamenei. “But what is not normal is that some people, without proof or an investigation, have made the streets dangerous, burned the Koran, removed hijabs from veiled women and set fire to mosques and cars”.

Khamenei added that “this is not about hijab in Iran”, and that “many Iranian women who don4t observe the hijab perfectly are among the steadfast supporters of the Islamic republic.”Concern grew over a night-time crackdown on students at Tehran’s prestigious Sharif University of Technology where, local media reported, riot police carrying steel pellet guns used tear gas and paintball guns against hundreds of students.

“Woman, life, liberty” the students shouted, as well as “students prefer death to humiliation”, Mehr news agency reported.Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights posted videos apparently showing police on motorcycles chasing students running through an underground car park and taking away detainees, their heads covered in black cloth bags.

In one clip, which IHR said was taken at a Tehran metro station, a crowd can be heard chanting: “Don4t be afraid! Don4t be afraid! We are all together!”In response to the university protests, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said that the courage of the Iranians was “incredible”, and that “the regime’s brute force is an expression of sheer fear of the power of education and freedom.”

Protests were also reported at other universities, including in the central city of Isfahan.Iran has repeatedly accused outside forces of stoking the protests and last week said nine foreign nationals -- including from France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Poland -- had been arrested.

The parents of Italian woman Alessia Piperno, 30, from Rome, said they had lost contact with her after speaking to her on Wednesday -- her birthday -- but then received a phone call on Sunday.

“I4m fine but there are people here who say they have been inside for months and for no reason,” she told them, according to Il Messaggero, Rome’s daily newspaper. “I fear I won4t be let out again. Help me.”

Italy’s foreign ministry has so far made no comment on the identity of the Italian held.Canada, meanwhile, said it had imposed new sanctions against Iran over its “gross human rights violations”, especially citing “the egregious actions committed by Iran’s so-called 4Morality Police4”.

At least 92 protesters have been killed so far in the Mahsa Amini rallies, said IHR, which has been working to assess the death toll despite internet outages and blocks on WhatsApp, Instagram and other online services.