The Consulate of Iran in Hyderabad on Thursday, January 15, said evidence showed that foreign-backed agents are transforming legitimate economic protests into violent riots in the Islamic Republic, even as over 2,600 people have died in the country since the demonstrations began 13 days ago.
In a post on X, the Consulate reiterated that Article 27 of the Constitution of Iran guarantees the right of citizens to hold public assemblies and demonstrations without bearing arms.
“… these [foreign] agents have sought to provoke foreign powers into military intervention by escalating the violence and causing further loss of life,” it said, posting an over 2-minute-long video showing the how the protesters’ destruction was due to foreign actors such as Mossad, Israel and the US.
Meanwhile, a news report from a local Iranian channel aired what it called a “leaked conversation” between an Israeli Mossad agent and his Iranian agent.
In the leaked audio, the Mossad agent allegedly discusses a plan to provoke violence during protests, arming individuals posing as protesters and shooting people (including protesters) in the head to cause deaths and chaos.
“Do you know how to handle a gun?” the Mossad agent asks his agent. When he says yes, the handler says, “Improve your shooting. We will send you a weapon, a handgun, so that during riots and unrest and protests you hit the head (of protesters).”
“Kill the person in the middle of the demonstration. We want to target them. Target the security forces,” he says.
While the authenticity of the leaked audio can’t be verified, it raises doubts on the legitimacy of the protests.
Videos of demonstrations broadly have stopped coming out of Iran, likely signalling the slowdown of their pace under the heavy security force presence in major cities.
In Iran’s capital, Tehran, witnesses told news agency Associated Press that recent mornings saw no new signs of bonfires lit the night before or debris in the streets. The sound of gunfire, which had been intense for several nights, has faded.
US President Donald Trump made a series of vague statements Wednesday that left unclear what American action, if any, would take place against Iran.
In comments to reporters, Trump said he had been told that plans for executions in Iran have stopped, without providing many details. The shift comes a day after Trump told protesters in Iran that “help is on the way” and that his administration would “act accordingly” to respond to the Islamic Republic’s deadly crackdown.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also sought to tone down the rhetoric, urging the US to find a solution through negotiation.
Asked by Fox News what he would say to Trump, Araghchi said: “My message is: Between war and diplomacy, diplomacy is a better way, although we don’t have any positive experience from the United States. But still diplomacy is much better than war.”
The change in tone by the US and Iran came hours after the chief of the Iranian judiciary said the government must act quickly to punish the thousands who have been detained.
Activists warned that hangings of detainees could come soon. The security forces’ crackdown on the demonstrations has killed at least 2,615, the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency reported, warning it likely would rise even higher.
The death toll exceeds that of any other round of protest or unrest in Iran in decades and recalls the chaos surrounding the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.
