ACTIVISTS called out the hijacking of the 1979 Iranian revolution today as Iran marked the 47th anniversary of the Islamic clergy coming to power.

This comes as the country’s theocracy remains under pressure both domestically and externally.

United States President Donald Trump has suggested he may send another aircraft carrier group to the Middle East.

President Trump made the suggestion in an interview published on Tuesday night as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Washington DC to push the US toward stronger terms in any agreement reached with Tehran in the fledgling talks with Iran.

Recognising the pressure, Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian made an unprecedented apology today to “all those affected” by the nationwide protest and bloody crackdown that followed it.

President Pezeshkian also denounced unspecified “Western propaganda” surrounding the protests.

He said he knew the “great sorrow” felt by people in the protests and crackdown, without directly acknowledging the hand Iranian security forces had in the bloodshed.

“We are ashamed before the people, and we are obligated to assist all those who were harmed in these incidents,” President Pezeshkian said. “We are not seeking confrontation with the people.”

On Iranian state television, authorities broadcast images of tens of thousands of people taking to the streets across the country today to support the theocracy and its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

But Committee for the Defence of Iranian People’s Rights (Codir) general secretary Gawain Little said: “The revolution in Iran in 1979 was a progressive, national democratic revolution.

“Sadly, the hijacking of the revolution by the Islamic clergy, resulting in the arrest and torture of thousands of the political opposition, has turned Iran into the theocratic dictatorship we see today.

“Now the US is threatening imperialist intervention against Iran, promoting reactionary figures from Iran’s past who have no popular support in Iran itself.”

Mr Little added: “Codir will continue to be a voice for those opposed to imperialist intervention and seeking peace, social justice and democracy in Iran.”