Iranian revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei spoke for the first time about the protests in his country on Monday.

At a joint graduation ceremony for cadets from all military academies in the capital, he said he was "heartbroken" at the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Jina Amini.

But he also defended the security forces, saying they were being wronged, Khamenei said.

Rainer Herman

Editor in Politics.

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He accused the United States and Israel of planning the "riots" in advance.

They were not started by "ordinary Iranians".

In the past, Khamenei had taken a much earlier and more decisive stance on major protests.

Immediately before Khamenei's speech, the first violent clashes broke out at a university.

Late on Sunday evening, armed riot police pursued several hundred students at the faculty of energy technology at the renowned Sharif University in northern Tehran and cornered them in the multi-storey car park.

Students are also taking part in the protests

Before that, the students had been demonstrating for several hours, shouting slogans like "Death Khamenei".

From late afternoon onwards, the riot police used tear gas.

Students and professors were beaten with batons and arrested.

During the night, Minister of Science Mohammad Ali Zolfigol inspected the campus.

He ordered that lectures nationwide be held online only from Monday.

On Saturday, the first day of the week in Iran, new cameras were installed at the main entrance of Sharif University in order to be able to identify people more quickly.

Nationwide, there were sit-ins or other forms of protest at more than a hundred universities on Saturday and Sunday.

There were also pro-Islamic Republic rallies at some universities.

Student participation in the protests, now reported from all 31 provinces, is a recent development.

They were a driving force in the 1979 revolution.

So far they have been passive for fear of losing their places and being de-registered.

First strikes are also reported from schools.

It is not excluded that teachers could join the students.

Teachers are among the professions that have historically most often gone on strike to demand pay rises.

Before the protests at the universities began on Sunday, the speaker of the parliament, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, called on the armed forces to crack down on those who endangered the security of the Islamic Republic.

In parliament, MPs chanted "Thank you, police".

Blockades of city highways in Tehran

Oslo-based human rights organization Iran Human Rights estimates that at least 133 people have been killed since the protests began on September 16.

At least 40 of them died in Zahedan, the capital of the eastern Iranian province of Sistan and Balochistan.

Several hundred people were injured in civil war-like clashes with firefights in the streets last Friday.

The security forces had to partially withdraw from some parts of the city.

They then shot at the demonstrators from helicopters, who in turn used weapons.

Many civilians also have firearms in the traditionally troubled province near the borders of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Videos show smoke hanging over the city.

What is new about the rallies in recent days is that demonstrators in Tehran are blocking city highways and major thoroughfares.

On Monday, the authorities largely paralyzed the Internet.

The BBC's Persian-language service reported that a former Revolutionary Guard general contradicted the official account that Amini died of natural causes.

He released an audio file confirming that the coroner's cause of death was "skull injury."

Global solidarity rallies supported the demonstrators over the weekend.

According to the BBC, rallies were held in more than 150 cities around the world.

On Monday, Germany, together with five other EU countries, called for new EU sanctions in view of the actions of the security forces.

According to its own statements, the Federal Foreign Office is “now working under high pressure to implement these proposals”.