Dubai, United Arab Emirates: Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Friday said he understood the demonstrators’ anger for drought in the southwest of the country, as the fourth death associated with the ongoing demonstration there was reported.
The comment, reported by state television, is the first direct comment on protest by Khamenei since they started in the Khuzestan region a week ago.
The Semiofficial Fars news agency reported a man was killed by a gunshot on the street streets in Aligoudarz City nearby, who was blamed by the police “.” “People show their dissatisfaction, but we cannot have complaints because the problem of water in the hot climate of Khuzestan is not a small problem,” Khamenei said as quoted.
He accused Iran’s enemy trying to exploit the situation.
He praised the people in the area for their loyalty and efforts during the awesome war against Iraq in the 1980s, adding that “people should not face problems”.
Protests have occurred in many cities and the city of Khuzestan, according to human rights activists in the Iranian group.
Security forces have fired tear gas and water cannons, and have clashed with demonstrators, added the group.
On Friday, Amnesty International said security forces had used direct ammunition during protests, and it urged them not to do it.
“Using a living ammunition against an unaccepted protesters who disguised no threat to life,” said in a statement.
Media Iran had previously reported that a police officer and two civilians had died in the midst of the protest.
It showed an online video that was claimed to show demonstrators carrying firearms.
Iran has been in the past but blamed the protesters for death that occurred during the crackdown with security forces.
Mobile internet service in Iran was disturbed during protests, according to the Internet access advocacy group Netblocks.org protest in Khuzestan came when Iran struggled through a wave of repeated infections in the middle of the Coronavirus pandemic, and as thousands of workers in the oil industry were strike to demand more wages and work conditions good.
The Iranian economy has also struggled under US sanctions from the time – Presidential Donald Trump’s decision 2018 to unilaterally attract America from the Tehran nuclear agreement with the world’s power, crashing into the value of the currency of the Islamic Republic, Rial.