There were reports of internet blackouts in parts of the country in an apparent attempt to quell the growing anger. Telecommunications Minister Issa Zarepour, according to the official Irna news agency, said there were some “temporary restrictions in some places and at some times.” State media reported that police used tear gas and made arrests to disperse crowds of up to 1,000 people on Tuesday night. Irna claimed that protesters threw stones at security forces and set fire to police vehicles. Protests have engulfed parts of the country over the past five days following the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was arrested by morality police for not wearing the hijab properly. IRNA said a “police assistant” died of injuries on Tuesday in the southern city of Shiraz. And a Kurdish human rights group, Hengaw, said two more people were killed by police, bringing the death toll reported since Amini’s death to six. An additional 450 people were injured and 500 arrested, the group said, figures that could not be independently verified. Demonstrations rock the country. Social media showed women being cornered by helmeted men on motorbikes and beaten. Many women had taken off their headscarves in protest against the morality police, who are enforcing the hijab under a decree issued by the new leadership of President Ebrahim Raisi. Speaking at the UN general assembly in New York on Wednesday, Raisi did not mention the protests or Amini by name, but criticized Western countries for their reactions to “an incident under investigation in Iran”. Iranian officials say they are investigating the cause of Amini’s death. However, protesters have little faith in an internal investigation and want the morality police abolished. On Wednesday, the country’s supreme leader gave a televised speech in which he did not refer to the protests but warned how young people should not “fall for the deception of Western powers”. Tehran has repeatedly blamed its domestic problems on the meddling of its international enemies. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 83, who has endured persistent reports of ill health, showed no clear signs of physical weakness in a speech that lasted nearly an hour. In New York on Tuesday, Raisi met French President Emmanuel Macron and told him that the UN nuclear inspectorate’s ongoing investigation into the origin of unexplained nuclear particles at three Iranian facilities was a serious obstacle to reviving a nuclear deal. Iran wants the investigation stopped. Jake Sullivan, US national security adviser, said he did not expect a major breakthrough in the round of meetings with Iranian and US officials in New York. No meeting has been scheduled between Raisi and US President Joe Biden. In a speech to the United Nations on Wednesday, his first as president, Raishi was willing to make further compromises to reach a deal with Washington, saying it was necessary to give Iran new guarantees that sanctions would not be reimposed. from the USA. Biden has given that assurance that as long as Iran remains in compliance with restrictions on its nuclear program, sanctions will not be reimposed, but he cannot bind future US leaders. Raisi said the US “maximum pressure policy” had suffered an embarrassing defeat and Iran would, if necessary, get its way without any renewal of the nuclear deal. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. He pointed out that Khamenei had issued a fatwa insisting that Iran had no plans to build a nuclear bomb and that its program was purely for civilian and peaceful purposes. A fatwa based on sharia was more valuable than any agreement, he said. “The Islamic Republic of Iran does not seek to build or acquire nuclear weapons, and such weapons have no place in our doctrine.” As soon as he got up to speak, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, left. In an interview with CBS, Raisi claimed that further investigations are needed to determine whether the Holocaust happened. In a 35-minute speech, one of the longest delivered to the general assembly this year, he accused the “Zionist oppressors” of building the world’s largest prison in Gaza and using brutality for seven decades to expand illegal settlements on Palestinian land. Raisi’s visit to New York has been complicated by efforts to serve him in a civil lawsuit accusing him of torture in a case brought by three former political prisoners, including Kylie Moore-Gilbert, the British-Australian academic held in Iran . No form can be served on him at UN headquarters, but attempts can be made outside the building. The case, which accuses him of overseeing human rights abuses, was filed in New York’s Southern District Court, accusing Raisi of overseeing the torture and ill-treatment of three inmates. The three plaintiffs are Moore-Gilbert, Mehdi Hajati, a former Shiraz city councillor, and Belgian-Iranian academic and former hostage Hamid Babaei. Speaking at a press conference in New York, Moore-Gilbert said she had spent two years and three months deprived of her liberty completely unfairly without any basis in fact. During her detention she said she had “suffered physical and psychological torture that remains with me to this day… In total, I spent 12 months in solitary confinement. I was routinely subjected to cruel, humiliating and humiliating treatment.’ Moore-Gilbert said she often wrote to Raisi, as head of the judiciary, describing the denial of her basic human rights, but never received a response.
