Iran’s head of judiciary said on Monday that it will show “no leniency towards rioters,” even as he acknowledged the public’s right to protest, after demonstrations over economic grievances entered their second week, according to AFP.
“I instruct the attorney general and prosecutors across the country to act in accordance with the law and with resolve against the rioters and those who support them... and to show no leniency or indulgence,” judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei said, as quoted by the judiciary’s Mizan news agency.
The protests began last Sunday with a strike by shopkeepers angered by high prices and prolonged economic stagnation, after the national currency Rial hit record low against the US Dollar. They have since spread geographically and evolved to include political demands.
Ejei said the authorities differentiated between protesters and those involved in violence, adding that Iran “listens to the protesters and their criticism, and distinguishes between them and rioters.”
Demonstrations have been reported in 25 of Iran’s 31 provinces and in at least 45 cities, mostly small and medium-sized towns concentrated in the west.
At least 12 people, including members of the security forces, have been killed in local clashes since December 30, according to official data. There have also been reports of property damage in western parts of the country as well.
State sponsored Fars news agency said on Monday that “the trend observed on Sunday night shows a notable decrease in the number of gatherings and their geographic reach compared to previous nights.”
AFP also reported that local media coverage of the protests has been limited, while videos circulating on social media are often difficult to verify.
The unrest comes amid sustained economic pressure. Iran’s currency, the rial, has lost more than a third of its value against the US dollar over the past year, with double-digit inflation steadily eroding purchasing power.
On Monday, the rial weakened again on the informal market to around 1.4 million to the dollar, compared with about 770,000 a year earlier.
While officials have publicly adopted a conciliatory tone towards economic complaints, they have reiterated that authorities will take a firm stance against what they describe as disorder and destabilisation.
Last week in a rare acceptance Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian had urged citizens not to blame the US for the problem faced by the country but rather the country’s leadership. Although years of crippling sanctions imposed by the United States have made the Iranian economy fragile, the current economic output is expected to be in negative.
The judicial diktat came just a day after US president Donald Trump said the US was watching the situation "very closely," while speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One,
"If they start killing people like they have in the past, I think they're going to get hit very hard by the United States," he said on Sunday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, said his country stood "in solidarity with the struggle of the Iranian people and with their aspirations for freedom".
On Monday, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baqaei said at a press conference that Israel was trying "to exploit the slightest opportunity to sow division and undermine our national unity".
Iran's prosecutor general Mohammad Movahedi-Azad last week warned against "externally designed scenarios" to harness the protests, promising a "decisive response".
Israel fought a 12-day war with Iran in June, which the US briefly joined with limited strikes on nuclear facilities.
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