Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi is surrounded by a group of lawmakers after defending his proposed labour minister in a vote of confidence session at the parliament in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, October 4, 2022
IRANIAN President Ebrahim Raisi appealed for national unity today after anti-government protests spread to universities and schools across the country.
Mr Raisi acknowledged in parliament that the Islamic Republic had “weaknesses and shortcomings,” but he repeated the claim that the unrest sparked by the death of a 22-year-old woman in the custody of the country’s morality police stemmed from a plot by Iran’s enemies.
The protests against Mahsa Amini’s death have continued in dozens of cities across the country for weeks, supported by international rallies.
In the second of two articles, STEVE BISHOP looks at how the 1979 revolution’s aims are obfuscated to create a picture where the monarchists are the opposition to the theocracy, not the burgeoning workers’ and women’s movement on the streets of Iran
