Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that the “exploitation of the protests to pursue political agendas, combined with the ongoing effects of illegal unilateral US sanctions, undermines Iranians’ basic rights” and is a “shameful” act.
Araghchi was addressing a letter to the UN Security Council, which is scheduled to meet on the afternoon of Thursday, January 15, to discuss the situation in Iran, where anti-government protests in the last few weeks have captured global attention.
Araghchi expressed concerns over “provocative and irresponsible statements” made by current and former US officials inciting violence and unrest in his country and reiterated accusations of the direct involvement of Israel’s secret agency Mossad in the same.
Earlier, in an interview with US TV channel Fox News, Araghchi reiterated that external elements were responsible for “escalating the situation by carrying out attacks against Iranian security forces and civilians.”
Araghchi reiterated that the protests, which began peacefully, turned violent in order to justify foreign intervention.
“They wanted to increase the number of deaths. Why? Because US President Donald Trump had “stated that if there were killings, he would intervene. Their goal was to drag the US into this conflict,” Araghchi claimed, asserting that it was a plot made by Israel.
Araghchi assured that the Iranian state had full control over the situation now and there were no fresh reports of violence in the country.
Meanwhile, threats of a strike by external forces still continue, with Iranian officials claiming they are fully prepared to face any situation.
Fear of US airstrikes
Though the anti-government protests have largely been replaced with millions-strong pro-government rallies since Monday, Iran is still apprehensive about possible air strikes from the US.
Iran had shut its airspace following strong indications of such possible airstrikes after Trump, addressing the protesters in Iran, claimed “help is on its way” on his social media post on Tuesday, asking the protesters to continue and “occupy institutions”.
The news of the withdrawal of some staff from the US military base in Qatar further escalated the fear of possible US strikes on Wednesday.
Several Iranian officials, including the speaker of the Iranian parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, warned that if Iran is targeted with a military strike, US bases and ships in the region, along with Israeli territories, would be a legitimate target.
Several countries, such as India, and some European nations issued travel warnings to their citizens, asking those who are already there in Iran to leave the country on Wednesday.
Though the airspace was opened after Trump toned down his rhetoric, claiming he was briefed that the violence against protesters had abated, Iran remained on high alert on Thursday, Al Jazeera reported.
Deliberate exaggerations about the number of casualties
Though anti-government protests have largely subsided, Iran continued to restrict internet services on the seventh day in a row on Thursday, with limited accessibility of international calls gradually being restored.
Iran imposed the restrictions after large-scale violence was recorded across the country on January 8.
During his interview with Fox News, Araghchi claimed that the number of people killed in the protests so far does not exceed a few hundred, which includes innocent bystanders killed and the security forces killed by the violent protesters.
Araghchi promised that the state would announce the exact figure soon, dismissing the very high figures quoted in some media outlets, such as CNN, as false.
Read more: Six points to navigate the turmoil in Iran
CNN and several other US media channels have been quoting the relatively unknown US-based Human Rights Activists New Agency (HRANA), claiming the death toll in Iranian protests was more than 2,400.
Araghchi also dismissed the news in the western media about possible hangings of some of the protesters arrested in the last few days.
Later, Iran’s judiciary also refuted the news reports and social media hype around the possible execution of one such protester, Erfan Soltani, arrested on January 10 for unlawful assembly and false propaganda against the state.
The judiciary’s media center called such reports fabricated as no death penalty exists for the crimes Soltani has been charged for in the Iranian laws.
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