Iran Confirms 139 Foreign Nationals Arrested in Protests

Police in Iran’s desert province of Yazd said on Tuesday that 139 foreign nationals have been arrested to date for participating in protests against the Iranian regime that began in December.

“These individuals played an active role in organising, inciting, and directing riotous actions, and in some cases were in contact with networks abroad,” Yazd police commander Ahmad Negahban told Iranian state media.

“A judicial investigation into the case of these individuals is under way in accordance with the current laws and regulations of the country,” he added.

Negahban did not specify the nationalities of these foreign individuals, or detail the charges against them.

Iranian state media reported on Monday that four foreign nationals were arrested in the capital city of Tehran as part of the protest crackdown. As with the Yazd arrests, their nationalities and alleged offenses were not detailed.

Iranian judiciary representative Asghar Jahangir railed on Tuesday that “those who played a ‍role in this American sedition and supported it will not be spared.”

Early in the massive protests that sprang up across Iran in December, the regime claimed it was sympathetic to their grievances, which included despair over the collapsing economy and rapidly deflating national currency.

The regime soon changed its tune and declared most of the protesters were “rioters” who had to be “put in their place,” as Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei put it.

Khamenei and other Iranian officials soon began claiming the protests were organized and directed by the United States, Israel, and other hostile foreign powers to destabilize the government. Soon after those accusations were made, the regime pulled the plug on the Internet and began murdering protesters in horrifying numbers.

As of this week, the office of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian claims 2,985 people were killed during the crackdown, but even the most conservative estimates from independent human rights groups are much higher. 

The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said it has confirmed 6,854 deaths so far, while other groups say the final death toll will prove to be much higher.

“Our estimate, based on eyewitnesses and precise data, suggests that figures mentioned in the media – such as 20,000 or 30,000 – do not seem unrealistic,” Iran Human Rights (IHR) director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam told Radio Farda on Monday.