Iran arrests protesters
At least 170 people were arrested during sporadic clashes on Tuesday night in Tehran and several other Iranian cities, even as the country’s lawmakers warned the United States against interfering in the country’s affairs.
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| Iranian police deal firmly with US-backed protests |
Unrest involving security forces and a limited number of “agitators” — accused of exploiting the student-led protests — were reported by the official news agency IRNA.
These occurred in the western city of Kermanshah, Tabriz in the northwest, Yazd in the centre and the northeastern holy city of Mashhad.
Police in Mashhad, northeast Iran, also reported that 30 people were arrested in the unrest on Tuesday. In the central city of Yazd there were 50 arrests of “agitators” while 90 people were detained in Tabriz, the police said.
Deputy Interior Minister, Ali Asghar Ahmadi, said small clashes erupted in the central city of Isfahan and Shiraz in the south, where a protester was killed last week under unclear circumstances.
Meanwhile, Iranian legislators have condemned US interference in the affairs of their country in a show of solidarity against pressure from Washington.
Two hundred and seventeen of Iran’s 290 MPs signed a statement to criticize Washington’s support for sections that were protesting against clerical rule.
“We, as representatives of this honourable nation, condemn this interference,” they said in the statement.