Shooting at protesters in Shahrekord, Ned Price supports protesters

DW cannot independently confirm the time and location of these protests.

In the past week, rising prices and shortages of basic goods have sparked a new wave of protests in various regions of Iran, including the Caravan (Razavieh) town in Tehran, Khuzestan, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer Ahmad, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, and Lorestan.

On Saturday, May 14, Dezful's representative in Andimeshk, Ahmad Avaei, confirmed that one person had been killed in the Andimeshk protest. However, he denied the news on Sunday, saying that his interview with the ILNA news agency on the matter had been "distorted and inaccurately reported."

ILNA then published the audio file of this interview, in which Avaei explicitly states that one person was killed in Andimeshk.

On Sunday, May 15, US State Department spokesman Ned Price supported the protesters in Iran on Twitter, writing: "The brave Iranian protesters are standing up for their rights. The Iranian people have the right to hold their government accountable. We support their rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression, without fear of violence or reprisal."

Six organizations support people's protests

Six Iranian opposition organizations have issued a statement supporting the protests in recent days in various cities in Iran, including Dezful, Andimeshk, Kermanshah, Izeh, Jonghan, Khorramabad, Farsan, Borujerd, Rasht, Neyshabur, Dehdasht, Shahrekord, and Yasuj, and have said that the protests against price increases in Iran are expected to spread to other cities, "especially after the effects of severe inflation become more apparent in the coming weeks."

Their statement states that these protests, along with nationwide teacher protests, could "gradually become organized and coordinated and ultimately lead to a lasting shift in the balance of power in favor of the nation."

They have also said that the Iranian government's propaganda apparatus' attribution of protests and political slogans to "hostile groups" is "too discredited to be credible even among the regime's social base."

They have emphasized that "the main factor in creating the current chaotic conditions and paving the way for popular protests is the destructive and ill-considered policies, actions, and decisions of government officials."

These six groups are the “Iranian Republican Union”, the “Iranian-European National Front (Sixth Order)”, the “Iranian Left Party (Fedayeen Khalq)”, the “Social Democratic and Secular Republican Party of Iran”, “Iranian National Front Organizations Abroad”, and “Iranian Republican Solidarity”.