Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Friday, Aug 22, 2025

‘Who’s the dictator?’ asks Iran’s Raisi as protests continue

‘Who’s the dictator?’ asks Iran’s Raisi as protests continue

Top officials this week visited universities, which have seen many rounds of protests since September.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has once again denounced the United States amid his country’s continuing anti-government protests.

The president visited Tehran University on Wednesday morning, where he delivered a speech to mark Students’ Day, and reiterated that there was a distinction between protests and “riots” – a word authorities regularly use to describe the country’s unrest, which has lasted close to three months.

“The Americans are after destruction and want a destroyed Iran instead of a strong Iran,” he said. “They want here to become Syria and Afghanistan, but they have made a mistake in their calculations and the educated Iranian men and women won’t allow them.”

Raisi referred to a visit he made last week to the protest-heavy province of Kurdistan, where cameras captured him being welcomed by a local shop owner in a marketplace with chocolates.

A video later widely circulated on social media in which the man is seen apologising for greeting the president.

“You saw a man offered me chocolates. The things they did to that poor man!” Raisi said.

“You talk about the issue of dictatorship. Who’s the dictator? The one who imposes so many sanctions against this country,” he added in reference to the US, which has imposed harsh sanctions since 2018 after withdrawing from Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

The president’s visit came on the third and final day of nationwide protests and strikes that were called anonymously online.

Videos of sporadic protests have come out of Tehran and several other cities in the past few days amid lingering internet restrictions.

Raisi said on Wednesday the restrictions are a response to “disturbances and insecurity created by enemies” and changes will be made when “safe conditions” are restored.

Meanwhile, many videos have been published online of closed shops in cities across the country, which have been countered by many videos released by state-affiliated media outlets that showed shops were open.

Authorities have repeatedly claimed that “anti-revolutionary” elements force shopkeepers to close down their businesses with threats of physical violence. The president also made this claim during his university speech.

Many shops, including several owned by football legend Ali Daei, have been shut down by the authorities for joining the strikes.

Other senior officials, including judiciary chief Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, and Tehran Mayor Alireza Zakani visited various universities on Tuesday.

Zakani’s visit to the Sharif University of Technology in Tehran was perhaps the most controversial and confrontational, as he was heavily criticised by students who called him “corrupt”.

When a student said “we want to make a revolution but you won’t let us”, Zakani mockingly replied, “that’s child’s play, when you want to speak of revolution rub your throat well so it won’t get stuck in there”.

The country’s protests began shortly after the September 16 death of Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish woman who was arrested by morality police for allegedly not adhering to Iran’s mandatory dress code.

A senior judiciary official said last week that the morality police had been suspended, but there has been no confirmation by police authorities and no indication that laws requiring mandatory hijab will be changed.



Iran has said 200 people have been killed during the unrest, which is lower than the more than 400 figure cited by a number of foreign-based rights organisations, who say Iranian security forces have killed protesters.

Foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian claimed on Tuesday during a trip to Bosnia and Herzegovina that “police in Iran have not shot anybody and no one has been killed as a result of shooting or confrontation with police or security forces”.

However, the sister of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Hosseini Khamenei on Wednesday condemned the crackdown on protesters, according to a letter released by her son.

Badri Hosseini Khamenei also said that the country’s elite Revolutionary Guards should “lay down their weapons … and join the people”.

“I think it is appropriate now to declare that I oppose my brother’s actions and I express my sympathy with all mothers mourning the crimes of the Islamic Republic, from the time of [former Supreme Leader Ruhollah] Khomeini to the current era of the despotic caliphate of Ali Khamenei,” Badri Khamenei, who still lives in Iran, said in the letter published on her France-based son’s Twitter account.


‘Dictated by CIA’


In addition to the US, top Iranian officials continue to accuse other Western countries of being behind the unrest in Iran.

In an interview with state-run IRNA published on Wednesday, intelligence minister Esmaeil Khatib only had harsh words for European leaders.

About French President Emmanuel Macron, Khatib said “it is no longer necessary for the US president to give him directions, because a corrupt, low-tier CIA intelligence source dictates what he must say and what positions he must adopt”.

He also criticised German Chancellor Olaf Scholz for his comments in support of the protests and against the Islamic republic, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for tweeting about a false claim that Iran could imminently execute 15,000 people arrested during the protests.

While the 15,000 figure was false, Amnesty International warned earlier this month that at least 28 people could face execution in Iran in connection with the protests, saying “authorities use the death penalty as a tool of political repression to end the popular uprising”.

On Tuesday, five people were sentenced to death and 11 others – including three minors – received lengthy prison terms for allegedly killing a member of the Basij paramilitary force during unrest in the city of Karaj last month.

Their sentences are preliminary and can be appealed, the judiciary said. However, judiciary chief Mohseni-Ejei had said earlier this week that “some” of the previous death sentences doled out for “corruption on Earth” and “waging war against God” in relation to the protests have been upheld by the Supreme Court and “will be carried out soon”.

Iran on Sunday executed four people and handed prison sentences to three others accused of working with Israeli intelligence.


Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
High-Stakes Trump-Putin Summit on Ukraine Underway in Alaska
Iranian Protection Offers Chinese Vehicle Shipments a Cost Advantage over Japanese and Korean Makers
Saudi Arabia accelerates renewables to curb domestic oil use
Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez announce engagement
Asia-Pacific dominates world’s busiest flight routes, with South Korea’s Jeju–Seoul corridor leading global rankings
Private Welsh island with 19th-century fort listed for sale at over £3 million
Sam Altman challenges Elon Musk with plans for Neuralink rival
Australia to Recognize the State of Palestine at UN Assembly
The Collapse of the Programmer Dream: AI Experts Now the Real High-Earners
Armenia and Azerbaijan to Sign US-Brokered Framework Agreement for Nakhchivan Corridor
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Nine people have been hospitalized and dozens of salmonella cases have been reported after an outbreak of infections linked to certain brands of pistachios and pistachio-containing products, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
Tariffs, AI, and the Shifting U.S. Macro Landscape: Navigating a New Economic Regime
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
China Tightens Mineral Controls, Curtailing Critical Inputs for Western Defence Contractors
OpenAI’s Bold Bet: Teaching AI to Think, Not Just Chat
BP’s Largest Oil and Gas Find in 25 Years Uncovered Offshore Brazil
JPMorgan and Coinbase Unveil Partnership to Let Chase Cardholders Buy Crypto Directly
British Tourist Dies Following Hair Transplant in Turkey, Police Investigate
WhatsApp Users Targeted in New Scam Involving Account Takeovers
Trump Deploys Nuclear Submarines After Threats from Former Russian President Medvedev
Germany’s Economic Breakdown and the Return of Militarization: From Industrial Collapse to a New Offensive Strategy
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
President Trump Diagnosed with Chronic Venous Insufficiency After Leg Swelling
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
Kurdistan Workers Party Takes Symbolic Step Towards Peace in Northern Iraq
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
AI Raises Alarms Over Long-Term Job Security
Saudi Arabia Maintains Ties with Iran Despite Israel Conflict
Russia Formally Recognizes Taliban Government in Afghanistan
×