Teachers’ unions urge security forces to stand with protesters

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian blamed nationwide protests on foreign actors, saying people were being incited from abroad to create insecurity, Iranian media reported on Saturday.

Authorities should not allow “enemies” to achieve their aims, Pezeshkian said at a meeting with the minister and senior officials at the Agriculture Ministry, adding that a task force should be formed to quickly address the problems of the merchants and bussinesses.

The treatment of families of people killed in Iran’s protests goes beyond repression, the US Department of State said in a post on its Persian-language page.

Sharing videos from funeral ceremonies, the department wrote that it was cruel not only to silence people speaking out for their rights with lethal force, but also to harass grieving families during burials. Such actions, it added, amounted to a deliberate attack on basic human dignity, warning that the world is watching.

Information received by Iran International confirms that Ahmadreza Amani, a trainee lawyer, was killed on Thursday after being shot directly by government agents during protests in the city of Azna in Lorestan.

The head of the Yazd Bar Association, Mohammad Hossein Jafari, confirmed his killing during the protests and said he had written to the head of the judiciary calling for a thorough investigation.

Human rights lawyer Sina Yousefi wrote on X that Amani was 28 and was completing the second stage of his legal traineeship. A person close to the family told Iran International that Amani’s body has not yet been handed over, adding to pressure on relatives, and said security forces have begun pressuring the family to blame protesters for his death.

The determination of the Iranian public in the face of repression deserves international attention, the Persian-language page of the United States Department of State on X wrote as protests continue despite security force violence.

The post described the courage of Iranians as “undeniable,” saying people continue to protest and voice their demands despite violence by security forces. Arrests, beatings and even killings by security officials, it added, have failed to silence demands for welfare, dignity and basic rights, concluding that the public’s resolve in confronting repression warrants the world’s attention.

Investigations by Iran International show at least 44 protesters were shot with live ammunition or pellet guns and wounded during six days of demonstrations in Iran, with dozens more injured by baton beatings and assaults by security forces and plainclothes agents.

The figure covers only cases that Iran International was able to document through field reporting and interviews with protesters, their families and other sources, and does not include all those hurt.

Those shot were aged between 14 and 35, while people injured by beatings were mostly 15 to 40, with cases reported in cities including Azna, Fooladshahr, Kavar, Kouhdasht, Lordegan, Marvdasht and Nurabad in Lorestan.

Some of the injured were school-age girls and boys, with severe bruising reported and at least one case in which a victim’s teeth were broken.