Iran Says Nuclear Talks Not Related To Internal Crisis

Kurdish towns and cities in western Iran were restless all-day Sunday, after government agents killed two men in Sanandaj the previous day. This fueled more intense protests in the city and Security forces resorted to the full use of military weapons Sunday night.

Social media reports spoke of an undetermined number of people killed and wounded among protesters. One protester tweeted, “We pushed them back and it feels like a revolution”.

Security forces, mainly the Revolutionary Guard, were firing automatic weapons till the early hours of Sunday in Sanandaj, a city that was one of the first to rebel in mid-September after the now iconic face of the protests, Mahsa Amini was killed after being arrested the by the notorious ‘morality’ police.

Gunfire in Sanandaj, Sunday, October 9

Protesters also took to the street again in the evening in Tehran’s southern working-class areas such as Shahrak-e Vali Asr and Nazi Abad where angry protesters turned out in such huge numbers that astonished everyone, including security forces who feared the situation could get totally out of control if they interfered. Protesters torched a building used by the IRGC-linked Basij militia which are always deployed to suppress protests.

Social media reports say in Nazi Abad security forces fired shotguns to disperse a group of protesters who were chanting against Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to prevent the crowd from coalescing.

In other places such as Tehran’s western Ekbatan neighborhood, a massive apartment complex, people chanted “Down with the Dictator” even louder than previous nights and called on the “silent-ones” to join the protests.

Disturbing footage on social media Sunday of security forces vandalizing private cars on thee streets.

The Oslo-based Iran Human Rights Organization (IHR) reported Saturday a death toll of 185 in the protests that started three weeks ago, including at least 19 children, across the country with the highest number of killings in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchistan province where half the deaths have been recorded.

There is no reliable information on the number of the wounded as most of those injured in the protests are not taken to hospital for fear of being arrested.

Several protesters were killed during the protests Saturday including at least two young men in Sanandaj, capital of Kordestan Province. One of the victims, Yahya Rahimi, was shot in the head inside his car because he was honking his horn in support of the protesters on the street.

Students also continued their strike and further protests Sunday in several universities in Tehran as well as Rasht, Arak, and Qazvin during the day.

Students, both in universities and secondary schools, also tried to consolidate some of the ground they have gained. Women and girls continue to refuse to wear headscarves. In a university in Tehran men and women broke the forty-year segregation taboo as they had promised, taking over the canteen, and chanted “Don’t be mistaken and think it’s only today. We’ll be doing this everyday!”

Activists have reported pressure and intimidation on secondary school girls in some areas for refusing to wear headscarves and chanting anti-regime slogans. In some schools children have been threatened with expulsion. Security forces reportedly tried to enter some schools Sunday to arrest students but faced resistance from the children, who booed them and chanted “Women, Life, Freedom”, as well as their parents.

There are some unconfirmed reports of disobedience among security forces. Hardliner lawmaker Mohammad Esmail Kowsari, an IRGC general, on Sunday threatened security forces of consequences if they did not “fulfil their duties” during the crackdown on popular protests.

She told German Sunday newspaper Bild am Sonntag that "Those who beat up women and girls on the street, who abduct, arbitrarily imprison and condemn to death people who want nothing other than to live free -- they stand on the wrong side of history."

Expressing support for protesters she said, "To those people in Iran we say: we stand by you, and will continue to do so," she said.

Antigovernment protests began on September 17 following the murder of Mahsa Amini and soon turned into the biggest challenge to Iran's clerical leaders in years, with protesters calling for the downfall of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Germany, France, Denmark, Spain, Italy and the Czech Republic have submitted 16 proposals for new EU sanctions against Iran for its clampdown on protests ignited by the death in hijab policy custody of the 22-year-old Kurdish girl. 

The EU foreign ministers are set to decide on the measures at their meeting on October 17, with no resistance expected from the members of the bloc, Spiegel magazine reported. "We are now working flat out to implement these proposals," a German foreign ministry source said.

Addressing his supporters during a rally in Minden, Nevada, on Saturday, he said that “the people of Iran are bravely protesting against their corrupted and brutal regime, courageously facing down violence, persecution, jail, torture, and even death.” 

He added that “we are with you and we will always be with you.” 

While protests are going on in Iran amid a bloody crackdown by security forces, foreign governments and officials are promising sanctions and punitive measures against the Islamic Republic’s authorities, especially those involved in the suppression of the popular protests. 

Oslo-based organization Iran Human Rights said on Saturday that at least 185 people have been killed in the uprising ignited by the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. The NGO added that about 20 of the killed were minors.

The protests first erupted in Mahsa Amini’s hometown Saqqez and capital Tehran and soon spread to all over the country and garnered support from Iranian expatriate communities around the world as well as foreign governments and officials.

The Persian hashtag to express support for the protests has been retweeted over 270 million times and is still being used.

Kowsari who was also a Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) commander in charge of Tehran’s security for many years, said, “If security officials do not fulfill their duties, they should be accountable to their commanders and the people."

The General was the commander of the IRGC’s Sarallah (Sar-Allah) Headquarters in Tehran and currently serves as Tehran’s representative in the parliament. 

Describing the protesters, who have been holding antigovernment rallies since the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, as “rioters,” he said there are some attempts “to weaken” the morale of government forces. 

He also slammed some former government officials who are now critical of the heavy-handed clampdown, claiming that “these people are not aware of the behind-the-scenes issues of the recent riots…They think that statements by foreigners are true and that the security and law enforcement forces have committed crimes.”

Several dissident figures from inside Iran and abroad, such as Canada-based activist Hamed Esmaeilion, Mir-Hossein Mousavi who has been under house arrest since February 2011, and exiled Prince Reza Pahlavi have called the military forces to stand behind the nation.

The Youth of Tehran Neighborhoods is an anonymous group that helped organize rallies in the capital in the past 20 days, and also called for nationwide protests.

The group has so far published eight statements and calls for protests that have led to huge demonstrations in Tehran, such as the rallies on Saturday, October 8, which breathed new life into the movement. 

It said in its latest statement that similar groups have been created in several cities across Iran to organize the protests, which have been held regularly following the death of Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old woman whose death in hijab police custody ignited the uprising. 

The group warned “the mercenaries of the dictator to stop violence and bloodshed before our patience runs out."

Antigovernment protests in Iran often had no known leaders in the past five years, with all independent groups and political parties banned and disbanded long ago.

The demonstrations in Tehran and several other cities on Saturday were noisy and large, in parallel with protests in many universities.

Several trailers used as police station have been removed from the streets of Tehran Sunday morning after protesters torched a trailer in downtown Tehran during Saturday protests.