President Raeisi: Enemy made ‘scandalous miscalculation’ in instigating riots; Iranian nation thwarted plots

President Ebrahim Raeisi says the enemy made a “scandalous miscalculation” by instigating the recent riots over the death of a young woman of Kurdish descent in Iran, but the Iranian nation thwarted their plots to stoke insecurity and chaos across the country.

Raeisi made the remarks in a Thursday visit to Iran's western city of Sanandaj, Kordestan’s provincial capital, where violent protests initially broke out after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody in Tehran on September 16.

Amini died in hospital three days after she collapsed in a police station. An investigation attributed her death to medical condition, dismissing allegations that she had been beaten by police forces.

In the past two months, and using the protests as a cover, rioters and thugs — many of whom were later found to have links with foreign parties — have been on a rampage, engaging in savage attacks on security officers, vandalism, desecration of sanctities, and false-flag killings of civilians to incriminate the Iranian police.

The riots also set the scene for terrorist attacks across the country.

“In the recent events, counterrevolution elements made a scandalous miscalculation as usual as part of their continued [acts of] betrayal, and other crimes were added to their past record of betrayals,” Raeisi told people in the Kurdish city.

“They thought that they could achieve their malicious goals by creating chaos, insecurity and terrorist acts, but they were dismissive of the fact that the noble people of Kordestan have had … thousands of martyrs in the Revolution,” the president added, referring to the 1980-1988 war imposed by Iraq on Iran.

Stressing that the Iranian people foiled the enemy’s plots in the recent riots, Raeisi said, "The new generation [of youths] … will not be back down in the face of the enemies."

The Iranian chief executive said the counterrevolution agents sought to stoke insecurity under the pretext of economic hardships, but they were unaware that “the people of this land have always maintained their cohesion and unity, and Shias and Sunnis have lived alongside for years.”

The riots in Iran have claimed the lives of dozens of people and security forces, while also allowing acts of terror and sabotage across the country. In the last two months, the terrorists have set fire to public property and tortured several Basij members and security forces to death.

Elsewhere in his speech in the western city of Sanandaj, Raeisi said the Iranian nation will never stop making progress although the enemy is trying to create unrest and insecurity. “The ill-wishers want to stop the fast-moving train of the country's progress.”

Raeisi underlined that the enemy is enraged by Iran’s “scientific developments, universities, nuclear [technology], defense industries, science, technology, relations with neighboring countries and the world, oil and non-oil exports, [and] our share in the trade and economy of the region.”

Probe: Mahsa Amini’s death caused by illness rather than alleged blows to her head, body

Iran’s Legal Medicine Organization says Mahsa Amini’s death was caused by prior illness rather than alleged blows to the head.

‘Iran on the way to conquer great peaks’

In another development on Thursday, the chief commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said Iran is on the path to progress and that one of the enemies’ plots is to “sow the seeds of sedition in the hearts of the Iranian youths.”

Addressing an event in Shiraz, the capital city of the southern Fars Province, Major General Hossein Salami pointed to anti-Iran conspiracies and said the Iranian nation will become more determined to safeguard what it has achieved so far and take further steps in the path to progress.

“Today, we are on the path to conquer great peaks and we will not stop… This nation is strong and powerful, they want us not to make progress, not to have missiles, not to send satellites into space, not to build refineries and power plants, and they say we will give you whatever you want, but we do not want that Iran,” Salami said.

“We want an independent, powerful Iran that can meet all its needs and defend its dignity, honor and national values and restore the rights of the oppressed people from the arrogant powers,” he noted.

Stressing that the US and Israel are acting behind the scenes and playing the main role in directing the riots in Iran in order to achieve their own goals, Salami said, “The Iranian nation will, however, stand up firm and not back down.”

‘Perpetrators of Shiraz bombing attack nabbed’

Meanwhile, Iran's intelligence forces in Fars Province revealed on Thursday that security forces had arrested those who sought to carry out a bombing the night of the terrorist attack on the Shah Cheragh shrine in Shiraz.

Intelligence Ministry: 26 Takfiri terrorists captured over Shah Cheragh terror attack

The Iranian Intelligence Ministry says the country’s security and intelligence forces have arrested 26 Takfiri militants in connection with a recent terrorist attack in southern Iran.

The apprehension, as intelligence forces said, came after public reports about a “suspicious package” that was sighted in one of the main roads of Shiraz on the night of the terrorist attack on October 26, shortly after which a disposal team arrived at the scene and neutralized it.

The perpetrators of the bombing were identified and arrested during a hunt in the provinces of Esfahan and Fars, Iran's intelligence forces were quoted as saying by Iran’s Fars news agency.

The forces stressed that additional information regarding the matter will soon be released.  

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