US Blames Iranian Regime As Death Toll From Brutal Crackdown On Protesters Rises

"The United States says recent protests across Iran were the result of the regime's "mismanagement" and not foreign influences, as claimed by Tehran, as the death toll continues to rise from a violent crackdown on the biggest threat to the Islamic republic in years. In a post published on X on January 21, USAbehFarsi, the official Persian-language social media platform of the US State Department, said the protests, which began late last month, were "an inevitable uprising of the Iranian people after years of repression.""

"Iranian officials, including President Masud Pezeshkian, have repeatedly labeled the protesters "terrorists" and "rioters" and attribute the high number of deaths, the official statistics of which have not yet been released, to Israeli operatives. "The Islamic republic regime's attempt to blame foreign governments and criminalize protesters is a ridiculous attempt to rewrite reality," USAbehFarsi said. "Denial and blaming others only serve the political propaganda of the Islamic republic regime and do not convince anyone else," it added."

The United States attributes the recent nationwide protests in Iran to regime mismanagement rather than foreign influence. USAbehFarsi described the unrest as an inevitable uprising after years of repression. Iranian officials labeled protesters "terrorists" and blamed Israeli operatives for the deaths. Protests began on December 28 among Tehran shopkeepers over dire economic conditions, including soaring inflation and currency collapse, and expanded into broader demonstrations over living standards and suppressed freedoms. Human rights groups report thousands killed, many more under investigation, thousands seriously injured, and over twenty-six thousand arrests, with allegations of sexual abuse of detained protesters.

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