Protesters attacked offices of Khamenei’s representatives in cities; names of 9 seminaries and Friday prayer leaders’ offices
Some reports from citizen journalists to Voice of America indicate that protesters have targeted offices of Khamenei’s representatives in cities where protests are taking place.
A video sent to Voice of America shows that the office of the Friday prayer leader in Sadra township near Shiraz has been set on fire.
It also appears that the office of the Supreme Leader’s representative and Friday prayer leader in Yazd has been targeted. On Monday, state news agencies reported that several attackers were arrested at the Friday prayer leader’s office in Yazd. The office of Ayatollah Mohammad Reza Naseri Yazdi, the Supreme Leader’s representative in Yazd, had been attacked.
Radio Farda also pointed to this list of locations affiliated with seminaries and Friday prayer leaders in cities:
- Office of the Friday prayer leader of Qods city in western Tehran
- Office of the Friday prayer leader of Imam Khomeini Port in Khuzestan
- Imam Mahdi seminary school in Ahvaz city
- Kawthar women’s seminary school in Farydis, Karaj
- Zaynabiyah seminary in Isfahan
- Salihiyah seminary school, Al-Sadiq School in Kazerun
- Khatam al-Anbiya seminary school in Shiraz
Many protesters in recent days have chanted slogans such as “Tanks, cannons, bullets, the clerics must vanish.”
The White House issued a statement Sunday evening in support of the protesting people in Iran. Part of this statement reads that the United States condemns the use of lethal force and severe restrictions on communications against demonstrators.
Public protests began on Friday, 24 Aban, following the sudden announcement of a tripling of the price of free-market gasoline in various Iranian cities. However, the slogans of protesters quickly turned toward senior Islamic Republic officials.
Video images and reports sent to Voice of America from protests on Saturday, 25 Aban, indicate that as a result of gunfire by security forces, at least seven people were killed in the cities of Shiraz, Baharestan, Karaj, Shahr-e Qods, Behbahan, Marivan, and Sirjan. However, information about their identities is still not available.
Mike Pompeo, U.S. Secretary of State, in his initial reaction to widespread protests in Iran on Saturday, 25 Aban, while retweeting a tweet from one and a half years earlier, wrote to the Iranian people that the United States stands with you.
The Islamic Republic cut off the internet in major cities Saturday night, and Morgan Ortagus, spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, in response to this action by the Iranian regime, said: “We condemn efforts to cut off the internet. Let them [the people] speak!”
America says the Islamic Republic spends its national wealth on supporting terrorist groups and destabilizing the Middle East instead of its people.
The United States has also repeatedly condemned institutionalized financial corruption and the plundering of Iran’s God-given resources by officials affiliated with the ruling regime in this country, considering them among the main causes of Iran’s economic and financial problems. For instance, recently U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in several tweets about Islamic Republic officials that instead of helping people, they have become involved in corruption.
Source: Voice of America
