Iran warns protesters who challenge country's leadership
LONDON 31 Dec (ANA) - Iran warned of a crackdown on Sunday against demonstrators who pose one of the biggest challenges to both the government and clerical leadership in power since the 1979 revolution. Tens of thousands of Iranians have protested across the country since Thursday against the Islamic Republic’s unelected clerical elite and Iranian foreign policy in the region. They have also chanted slogans in support of political prisoners. Demonstrators initially vented their anger over economic hardships and alleged corruption but they have also begun to call on Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to step down. Videos posted on social media showed people chanting: “Mullahs, have some shame, leave the country alone.” The demonstrators also shouted: “Long live Reza Shah”. Such calls are evidence of an unprecedented level of anger and break a taboo. The king ruled Iran from 1925 to 1941 and his Pahlavi dynasty was overthrown in a revolution in 1979 by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Islamic Republic’s first leader. The protests are the biggest since unrest in 2009 that followed the disputed re-election of then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. They are also troublesome for the government of President Hassan Rouhani because he was elected on a promise to guarantee rights to freedom of expression and assembly.
Rouhani’s main achievement is a deal in 2015 with world powers that curbed Iran’s nuclear programme in return for a lifting of most international sanctions. But it is yet to bring the economic benefits the government promised. “Those who damage public property, violate law and order and create unrest are responsible for their actions and should pay the price,” state media quoted Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli as saying.(ANA)
FA/ANA/31 August 2017-----