Foreign Parties Instigating Unrest: Official

Date: 06 August 2018 - 21:54

News ID: ۵۶۰۰۶

Kayhan Int’l Political Desk
TEHRAN – A government official says foreign sources are inciting people to stage violent rallies under the guise of protests against economic woes.
Salman Samani, the spokesman of Interior Ministry, said that the bulk of calls for protest rallies in Iran over the past month has originated from outside the country.
On Saturday, Fars news agency reported that in the town of Eshtehad, 100 km west of Tehran, riot police intervened late Friday to disperse about 500 people who chanted slogans against the government, with some throwing rocks and bricks at a religious school.
Samani touched on the role of social media campaigns for illegal demonstrations, saying those "circulating such messages expected to win approval in many cities, but in practice, we saw limited cases of demonstrations.”
The Iranian government official said that only a handful of people were influenced by such propaganda and attended unlawful protests in a few cities.
Samani said investigations reveal that the "main elements provoking” unrest in the country are mostly the individuals who do not care about the economic problems and only "seek to foment chaos by taking advantage of the conditions regarding the price hikes and livelihood problems.”
The interior ministry official assured of ongoing efforts to control the protests and handle the situation with "minimum tensions and through dialogue.”  He also said that authorities were "determined to resolve people’s livelihood problems and ensure economic stability.”
The government’s reaction came after sporadic protests were held in Shiraz, Isfahan, Ahvaz and Karaj over the past few days against economic conditions. The protests have been largely peaceful without any major instance of violence.
People are mainly anxious over the collapse of the rial, which has lost nearly two-thirds of its value in six months, causing in the rise of commodity prices.
Government authorities, while acknowledging the legitimate worries, are wary that the protests could be hijacked by groups who can indulge in violence.
In January, several Iranian cities were scenes of protests, but they were hijacked by terrorist MKO elements who opened fire at protesters and killed several people.
Moreover, Iranian authorities are concerned about U.S. plots under President Donald Trump to stir unrest after Washington withdrew from an international nuclear deal with the Islamic Republic.