Iran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Friday said that no one should dare think they can uproot the Islamic Republic, in his toughest warning to protesters since Mahsa Amini's death in police custody ignited nationwide unrest now in its fourth week.
Demonstrations by people from all walks of life, after the Iranian Kurdish woman's death following her arrest for "inappropriate attire", have evolved into widespread calls for the downfall of Khamenei and "Death to the Islamic Republic".
Police deployed heavily on Friday in the city of Dezful, a witness said, after activists called for protests in the predominantly ethnic Arab, oil-rich province of Khuzestan at the Iraqi border. There was heavy deployment too of police and the Basij in the main squares of Zahedan, the capital of Sistan-Baluchistan province at the border with Pakistan in the southeast, two witnesses said.
The authorities said Baluchi militants attacked a police station that day, triggering a shootout. The Revolutionary Guards said five members of their forces and the Basij were killed. Ensiyeh Khazali, vice president for women’s affairs, called for a probe. Police said they would deal with anyone found accountable of a violation.
Iran's Kurds are part of an ethnic minority spread between several regional states whose autonomy aspirations have also led to conflicts with authorities in Iraq, Syria and Turkey.
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