• Iran, new protests and deaths. Rohani: people are free to demonstrate, but without violence
  • Blood on protests in Iran, Tehran accuses: "Foreign services behind the clashes". Internet stop
  • Iran: victims of protests against the government for high prices Internet access blocked

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02 January 2018Nine people were killed during the night during anti-government protests in Iran: the country's State TV reported. The death toll in the six days of protests thus rises to at least 23.

According to reports this morning, six demonstrators were killed during an attack on a police station in Qahdarijan. The clashes, again according to TV, began when demonstrators tried to steal weapons from the police station.

The girl who had taken off her veil in the protests was arrested yesterday.

Rohani appeals to the unit against a "small group of violent", while Trump returns to attack Teheran: "Time to change". The new US sanctions could hit the pasdaran.

The streets of Tehran have again been filled with protesters chanting anti-government slogans. There is car information set on fire and similar events also in other parts of the country. Already today, Iranian state television had shown images of assaulted private banks, smashed windows, overturned and burned cars.

Khamenei accuses 'the enemies of Iran' of the protests
Iran's enemies "have strengthened the alliance to hit Islamic institutions" in the country during recent incidents. The Iranian Supreme Guide, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said this in the first intervention since the beginning of the protests. "With the various tools such as money, weapons, politics and security systems, enemies have tried to undermine the system," he added.

Social networks blocked
The authorities have blocked, even if "only temporarily", access to social networks, particularly Telegram and Instagram, used by protesters to organize demonstrations. But the measures so far have not served to curb the protests.

Rohani calls for unity against a "small group of violent"
"The criticisms and the protests are an opportunity, not a threat", the Iranian president said in a statement published on the presidency's website, about the demonstrations of these days against the government, which he minimized the scope of, defining them "anything". "The nation itself will respond to rioters and criminals - continued Rohani - Our nation will face this minority that shouts slogans against the law and insults the sanctity and values ​​of the revolution".

Trump: "They're failing in everything, it's time to change"
Iran "is failing at every level", "it is time to change", writes Donald Trump in a new tweet on the protests in progress in Iran, in which he also returns to attack the nuclear agreement struck by his predecessor Obama with Tehran. "Iran - we read - is failing at every level despite the terrible agreement made with the Obama administration. The great Iranian people have been repressed for so many years. They are hungry for food and freedom. Together with human rights the wealth of the Iran is ransacked, it is time to change! ", Writes the American president. The new US sanctions could hit the Pasdarans.

The economic 'roots' of the protest
The Iranian government, probably underestimating the already winding discontent (also due to the reportage of journalists on the incredible riches of some ministers), presented the 2018 budget law in December: a 70% increase in the price of petrol, + 40% of light and gas, tripled the tax on travel abroad, increase in road fines, abolition of direct government subsidies for 20 million people, a quarter of Iran's population.

A "austerity" squeeze that triggered a speculative inflation bubble that in a few weeks led to a doubling of the price of meat and eggs, and the price of bread also increased by 33%. In the last two years, some twenty banks and credit institutions in the country have failed and hundreds of thousands of savers have seen their savings fade. A phenomenon that has already driven people to demonstrate in the streets of Tehran since November. Absolutely peaceful protests that were tolerated by the police and which were also attended by parliamentarians and politicians who asked the government to take care of people's money. President Hassan Rohani's government ensured that everyone would have their savings back, but in reality the crisis could last for years and with runaway inflation, taking the same sum of money back after years means actually losing them.