The Iranian parliament held a closed-door meeting on Sunday to discuss the deadly protests that hit the country last week, while more pro-regime rallies were held in several cities.

 Lawmakers interrogated Interior Minister Abdolrahmani Rahmani Fazli, Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi and secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani, parliament’s ICANA website reported.

 Some voiced concern over the internet controls put in place during the unrest, including a ban on Iran’s most popular messaging app, Telegram, which officials said had been used to incite violence.

 “The parliament is not in favour of keeping Telegram filtering in place, but it must pledge that it will not be used as a tool by the enemies of the Iranian people,” Behrouz Nemati, spokesman for the parliament’s presiding board, wrote on Instagram, which was also temporarily blocked during the unrest.

 Many Iranians use Telegram as their main source of news and a way of bypassing the highly restrictive state media, with almost a third of Iran’s 80 million people using the app daily.

 Some 9,000 online businesses have been disrupted by the blocking, semi-official news agency ISNA reported, quoting a report by the culture ministry’s digital media centre.

 The protests began on December 28 over economic issues before quickly spiralling out of control and turning against the regime as a whole, leaving 21 dead.

 The protests, which vented anger at high unemployment and official corruption, were the largest seen in Iran since the disputed 2009 presidential election, and some demonstrators called for the overthrow of the government.

 Hundreds of people have been detained since the protests began. They include around 90 university students, reformist lawmaker Mahmoud Sadeghi was quoted as saying by the semi-official ISNA news agency.

 Pro-government rallies were again held in several cities on Sunday, this time in Qazvin, Rasht, Shahr-e Kurd and Yazd.

 Tens of thousands of people have participated in similar rallies in the past few days.

 The rallies are “the people’s response to the rioters and troublemakers and their supporters,” said state television.

 It also repeated official claims that the unrest was orchestrated by the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia with the complicity of “anti-revolutionary” groups.

 Iran’s Guard claims victory against anti-government protests Iran’s Revolutionary Guard today said that the nation and its security forces have ended the wave of unrest linked to anti-government protests that erupted last month.

 In a statement on its website, the Guard blamed the unrest on the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia, as well as an exiled opposition group known as the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, and supporters of the monarchy that was overthrown in the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

 The Guard is a powerful paramilitary force loyal to the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Many of the demonstrators protested against the Guard’s massive budget, its costly interventions across the region, and against the supreme leader himself.

 Iranian lawmakers held a closed session on Sunday in which senior security officials briefed them on the protests and the conditions of the detainees, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.

 “It was emphasised that foreign elements, and in particular the United States, played a basic role in forming and manipulating the recent unrest,” IRNA quoted lawmaker Jalal Mirzaei as saying.

 The United States and Israel have expressed support for the protests, which began on Dec 28 in Iran’s second largest city, Mashhad, but deny allegations of fomenting them.

 In recent days, government supporters have held several mass rallies across the country to protest the unrest.—AFP</s>The protests, which vented anger at high unemployment and official corruption, were the largest seen in Iran since the disputed 2009 presidential election, and some demonstrators called for the overthrow of the government.

Price hikes sparked protests in a number of cities and towns in Iran late last month, and at least 21 people were killed in scattered clashes.

In a statement on its website, the force blamed the unrest on the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia, as well as an exiled opposition group known as the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, and supporters of the monarchy that was overthrown in the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

TEHRAN, IRAN—Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said on Sunday that the nation and its security forces have ended the wave of unrest linked to anti-government protests that erupted last month.

Authorities have said in the past few days that the protests are waning but The Associated Press could not independently verify that.

The Revolutionary Guard is a powerful paramilitary force loyal to the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Many of the demonstrators protested against the Guard’s massive budget, its costly interventions across the region, and against the supreme leader himself.

Hundreds of people have been detained since the protests began. They include around 90 university students, reformist lawmaker Mahmoud Sadeghi was quoted as saying by the semi-official ISNA news agency.

Later on Sunday, Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi said that 70 of the detained protesters have been released on bail during the past 48 hours. He added that there would be more releases from detention, except for the main instigators of the riots, who will be “dealt with seriously.”

Iranian lawmakers held a closed session on Sunday in which senior security officials briefed them on the protests and the conditions of the detainees, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.

“It was emphasized that foreign elements, and in particular the United States, played a basic role in forming and manipulating the recent unrest,” IRNA quoted lawmaker Jalal Mirzaei as saying.

The United States and Israel have expressed support for the protests, which began on Dec. 28 in Iran’s second-largest city, Mashhad, but deny allegations of fomenting them.

In recent days, government supporters have held several mass rallies across the country to protest the unrest.</s>TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's foreign minister on Monday warned neighboring countries against fomenting unrest after anti-government protests roiled the country over the past two weeks.

The remarks by Mohammad Javad Zarif at a security conference in Tehran echoed previous allegations by Iranian officials, who have blamed the violence that accompanied some of the protests on the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia.

"Some countries tried to misuse the recent incidents," Zarif said, without naming them. "No country can create a secure environment for itself at the expense of creating insecurity among its neighbors."

"Such efforts" will only backfire, the official IRNA news agency quoted Zarif as saying.

The anti-government demonstrations first broke out in Mashhad, Iran's second-largest city, on Dec. 28 and later spread to several other cities and towns. The protests were the largest seen in Iran since the disputed 2009 presidential election. They were sparked by a hike in food prices amid soaring unemployment but some demonstrators later called for the government's overthrow and chanted against the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

At least 21 people were killed and hundreds arrested. Large pro-government rallies were held in response.

In the past few days, Iranian authorities have said the protests are waning, and on Sunday, Iran's Revolutionary Guard claimed the nation and its security forces had ended the unrest.

The Guard blamed the unrest on the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia, as well as an exiled opposition group known as the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, and supporters of the monarchy that was overthrown in the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Zarif also mentioned an emergency session of the U.N. Security Council on Friday. The United States had called the meeting, portraying Iranian protests as a human rights issue that could spill over into an international problem.

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley said the session had put Iran on notice that "the world will be watching" its actions, but envoys from several other countries expressed reservations about whether the council was the right forum for the issue.

Zarif on Monday depicted the session as a fiasco, saying the Trump administration is "isolated at the international level."

The world "witnessed that (all other) members of the U.N. Security Council spoke about preventing the meddling in Iran's internal affairs," he said.

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani meanwhile said that despite the exploitation of the protests by outsiders, authorities should listen to the demonstrators' economic grievances.

"People rightfully say: 'See us, listen to our words,'" Rouhani said.

Rouhani, a relative moderate, also argued against the permanent suspension of social media applications that authorities had taken offline at the height of the protests, including the popular messaging app Telegram, which is used by an estimated 40 million Iranians — half the population.

"You had a good sleep while 40 million people were in trouble," Rouhani said. "Some 100,000 people have lost their jobs over this past week" because of the suspension of the apps, he said, referring to their widespread use in online commerce.

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>BEIRUT (Reuters) - Iran has foiled attempts by its foreign enemies to turn legitimate protests into an insurgency to overthrow the Islamic Republic, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Tuesday.

Comments on his Twitter feed and in Iranian media underscored the establishment’s confidence that it has extinguished the unrest that spread to more than 80 cities in which at least 22 people died since late December.

“Once again, the nation tells the U.S., Britain, and those who seek to overthrow the Islamic Republic of Iran from abroad that ‘you’ve failed, and you will fail in the future, too’,” Khamenei tweeted.

The Revolutionary Guards, the military force loyal to Khamenei, said on Sunday security forces had put an end to the unrest that it also said had been whipped up by foreign enemies.

At least 1,000 people have been arrested in the biggest anti-government protests for nearly a decade, with the judiciary saying ringleaders could face the death penalty.

A judiciary official said on Tuesday that a detainee in Arak, a town about 200 km (124 miles) south of Tehran, committed suicide, according to Mizan, the website of the Iranian judiciary.

On Monday, a separate judiciary official announced that a detainee had committed suicide in Tehran’s Evin prison.

The reports have raised concerns among human rights activists and some Iranian politicians that detainees may have been killed by security forces while in custody.

“I warn the president and security and judiciary officials to prevent the occurrence of a second Kahrizak,” Mahmoud Sadeghi, a parliamentarian, tweeted on Monday. The Kahrizak prison gained notoriety when a handful of detainees were tortured and killed at the site after unrest in 2009.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei gestures as he speaks, Iran, January 9, 2018. Leader.ir/Handout via REUTERS

GRANDSTANDING

Khamenei said U.S. President Donald Trump was grandstanding when he tweeted that protesters were trying “to take back their corrupt government”, promising “great support from the United States at the appropriate time!”

The Iranian leader tweeted: “... this man who sits at the head of the White House - although, he seems to be a very unstable man - he must realize that these extreme and psychotic episodes won’t be left without a response.”

The U.S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly, by 415-2, on Wednesday for a resolution supporting the peaceful protests in Iran, criticizing the Iranian government’s response and urging targeted sanctions in response to what lawmakers termed Tehran’s crackdown.

As well as Washington and London, Khamenei blamed the violence on Israel, exiled dissident group People’s Mujahedin of Iran and “a wealthy government” in the Gulf, a probable reference to Iran’s regional rival, Saudi Arabia.

In a rare public appearance, the head of Israeli intelligence agency Mossad said the protests were due to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s failure to improve people’s economic or social circumstances, but he said they were unlikely to overthrow the establishment.

“In Iran too, we have eyes and ears,” Yossi Cohen told a Finance Ministry conference in Jerusalem.

“One shouldn’t develop high hopes, though I would be happy to see a meaningful revolution,” he added.

Khamenei has called the protests - which were initially about the economy but soon turned political - “playing with fireworks”, but he said citizens had a right to air legitimate concerns, a rare concession by a leader who usually voices clear support for security crackdowns.

Slideshow (3 Images)

“These concerns must be addressed. We must listen, we must hear. We must provide answers within our means,” Khamenei was quoted as saying, hinting that not only the government of Rouhani, but his own clerical leadership must also respond.

“I am also responsible. All of us must follow up,” Khamenei said.</s>TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said on Sunday that the nation and its security forces have ended the wave of unrest linked to anti-government protests that erupted last month.

In a statement on its website, the force blamed the unrest on the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia, as well as an exiled opposition group known as the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, and supporters of the monarchy that was overthrown in the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Price hikes sparked protests in a number of cities and towns late last month, and at least 21 people were killed in scattered clashes.

The protests, which vented anger at high unemployment and official corruption, were the largest seen in Iran since the disputed 2009 presidential election, and some demonstrators called for the overthrow of the government.

Authorities have said in the past few days that the protests are waning but The Associated Press could not independently verify that.

The Revolutionary Guard is a powerful paramilitary force loyal to the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Many of the demonstrators protested against the Guard’s massive budget, its costly interventions across the region, and against the supreme leader himself.

Hundreds of people have been detained since the protests began. They include around 90 university students, reformist lawmaker Mahmoud Sadeghi was quoted as saying by the semi-official ISNA news agency.

Later on Sunday, Tehran prosecutor, Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi, said that 70 of the detained protesters have been released on bail during the last 48 hours. He added that there would be more releases from detention, except for the main instigators of the riots who will be “dealt with seriously.”

Iranian lawmakers held a closed session on Sunday in which senior security officials briefed them on the protests and the conditions of the detainees, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.

“It was emphasized that foreign elements, and in particular the United States, played a basic role in forming and manipulating the recent unrest,” IRNA quoted lawmaker Jalal Mirzaei as saying.

The United States and Israel have expressed support for the protests, which began on Dec. 28 in Iran’s second largest city, Mashhad, but deny allegations of fomenting them.

In recent days, government supporters have held several mass rallies across the country to protest the unrest.

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.</s>Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said Sunday that the nation and its security forces have ended the wave of unrest linked to anti-government protests that erupted last month.

In a statement on its website, the Guard blamed the unrest on the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia, as well as an exiled opposition group known as the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, and supporters of the monarchy that was overthrown in the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Price hikes sparked protests in a number of cities and towns late last month, and at least 21 people were killed in scattered clashes. The protests, which vented anger at high unemployment and official corruption, were the largest seen in Iran since the disputed 2009 presidential election, and some demonstrators called for the overthrow of the government.

The Revolutionary Guard is a powerful paramilitary force loyal to the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Many of the demonstrators protested against the Guard’s massive budget, its costly interventions across the region, and against the supreme leader himself.

Hundreds of people have been detained since the protests began. They include around 90 university students, reformist lawmaker Mahmoud Sadeghi was quoted as saying by the semi-official ISNA news agency.

Iranian lawmakers held a closed session on Sunday in which senior security officials briefed them on the protests and the conditions of the detainees, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.

Lawmakers probed Interior Minister Abdolrahmani Rahmani Fazli, Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi and secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani, the parliament’s ICANA website reported.

“It was emphasized that foreign elements, and in particular the United States, played a basic role in forming and manipulating the recent unrest,” IRNA quoted lawmaker Jalal Mirzaei as saying.

Some voiced concern over the internet controls put in place during the unrest, including a ban on Iran’s most popular messaging app, Telegram, which officials said had been used to incite violence.

“The parliament is not in favour of keeping Telegram filtering in place, but it must pledge that it will not be used as a tool by the enemies of the Iranian people,” Behrouz Nemati, spokesman for the parliament’s presiding board, wrote on Instagram, which was also temporarily blocked during the unrest.

Many Iranians use Telegram as their main source of news and a way of bypassing the highly restrictive state media, with almost a third of Iran’s 80 million people using the app daily.

The United States and Israel have expressed support for the protests, which began on December 28 in Iran’s second largest city, Mashhad, but deny allegations of fomenting them.

In recent days, government supporters have held several mass rallies across the country to protest the unrest.</s>Iran’s foreign minister has warned neighbouring countries against fomenting unrest after anti-government protests rocked the country over the past two weeks.

The remarks by Mohammad Javad Zarif at a security conference in Tehran echoed previous allegations by Iranian officials, who have blamed the violence that accompanied some of the protests on the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia.

"Some countries tried to misuse the recent incidents," Mr Zarif said, without naming them.

"No country can create a secure environment for itself at the expense of creating insecurity among its neighbours."

"Such efforts" will only backfire, the official Irna news agency quoted Mr Zarif as saying.

The anti-government demonstrations first broke out in Mashhad, Iran’s second-largest city, on December 28 and later spread to several other cities and towns.

The protests were the largest seen in Iran since the disputed 2009 presidential election.

They were sparked by a hike in food prices amid soaring unemployment but some demonstrators later called for the government’s overthrow and chanted against the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

At least 21 people were killed and hundreds arrested.

In the past few days, Iranian authorities have said the protests are waning, and on Sunday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard claimed the nation and its security forces had ended the unrest.

The Guard blamed the unrest on the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia, as well as an exiled opposition group known as the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, and supporters of the monarchy that was overthrown in the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Mr Zarif also mentioned an emergency session of the UN Security Council on Friday.

The United States had called the meeting, portraying Iranian protests as a human rights issue that could spill over into an international problem.

US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said the session had put Iran on notice that "the world will be watching" its actions, but envoys from several other countries expressed reservations about whether the council was the right forum for the issue.

Mr Zarif depicted the session as a fiasco, saying the Trump administration is "isolated at the international level".

The world "witnessed that (all other) members of the UN security council spoke about preventing the meddling in Iran’s internal affairs," he said.

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani meanwhile said that despite the exploitation of the protests by outsiders, authorities should listen to the demonstrators’ economic grievances.

"People rightfully say: ’See us, listen to our words’," Mr Rouhani said.

Mr Rouhani, a relative moderate, also argued against the permanent suspension of social media applications that authorities had taken offline at the height of the protests, including the popular messaging app Telegram, which is used by an estimated 40 million Iranians, half the population.

"You had a good sleep while 40 million people were in trouble," Mr Rouhani said.

"Some 100,000 people have lost their jobs over this past week" because of the suspension of the apps, he said, referring to their widespread use in online commerce.</s>TEHRAN, Iran — Iran's Revolutionary Guard said on Sunday that the nation and its security forces have ended the wave of unrest linked to anti-government protests that erupted last month.

In a statement on its website, the force blamed the unrest on the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia, as well as an exiled opposition group known as the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, and supporters of the monarchy that was overthrown in the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Price hikes sparked protests in a number of cities and towns late last month, and at least 21 people were killed in scattered clashes.

The protests, which vented anger at high unemployment and official corruption, were the largest seen in Iran since the disputed 2009 presidential election, and some demonstrators called for the overthrow of the government.

Authorities have said in the past few days that the protests are waning, but The Associated Press could not independently verify that.

The Revolutionary Guard is a powerful paramilitary force loyal to the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Many of the demonstrators protested against the Guard's massive budget, its costly interventions across the region, and against the supreme leader himself.

Hundreds of people have been detained since the protests began. They include around 90 university students, reformist lawmaker Mahmoud Sadeghi was quoted as saying by the semi-official ISNA news agency.

Later on Sunday, Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi said that 70 of the detained protesters have been released on bail during the last 48 hours. He added that there would be more releases from detention, except for the main instigators of the riots who will be "dealt with seriously."

Iranian lawmakers held a closed session on Sunday in which senior security officials briefed them on the protests and the conditions of the detainees, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.</s>Iran has foiled attempts by its foreign enemies to turn legitimate protests into an insurgency to overthrow the Islamic Republic, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Tuesday.

Comments on his Twitter feed and in Iranian media underscored the establishment’s confidence that it has extinguished the unrest that spread to more than 80 cities in which at least 22 people died since late December.

“Once again, the nation tells the US, Britain, and those who seek to overthrow the Islamic Republic of Iran from abroad that ‘you’ve failed, and you will fail in the future, too’,” Khamenei tweeted.

The Revolutionary Guards, the military force loyal to Khamenei, said on Sunday security forces had put an end to the unrest that it said had been whipped up by foreign enemies.

At least 1,000 people have been arrested in the biggest anti-government protests for nearly a decade, with the judiciary saying ringleaders could face the death penalty.

Khamenei said US President Donald Trump was grandstanding when he tweeted support for protesters he said were trying “to take back their corrupt government” and promising “great support from the United States at the appropriate time!”

The Iranian leader tweeted: “... this man who sits at the head of the White House - although, he seems to be a very unstable man - he must realise that these extreme and psychotic episodes won’t be left without a response.”

As well as Washington and London, Khamenei blamed the violence on Israel, exiled dissident group People’s Mujahedin of Iran and “a wealthy government” in the Gulf, a reference to Iran’s regional rival, Saudi Arabia.

In a rare public appearance, the head of Israeli intelligence agency Mossad said the protests were due to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s failure to improve people’s economic or social circumstances, but he said they were unlikely to overthrow the establishment.

“In Iran too, we have eyes and ears,” Yossi Cohen told a finance ministry conference in Jerusalem. “One shouldn’t develop high hopes, though I would be happy to see a meaningful revolution.”

Khamenei has called the protests - which were initially about the economy but soon turned political - “playing with fireworks”, but he said citizens had a right to air legitimate concerns, a rare concession by a leader who usually voices clear support for security crackdowns.

“These concerns must be addressed. We must listen, we must hear. We must provide answers within our means,” Khamenei was quoted as saying, hinting that not only the government of Rouhani, but his own clerical leadership must also respond.

“I’m not saying that they must follow up. I am also responsible. All of us must follow up,” Khamenei said.</s>Iran has foiled attempts by its foreign enemies to turn legitimate protests into an insurgency to overthrow the Islamic Republic, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Donald Trump was grandstanding when he tweeted support for protesters. (Credit: Reuters)

Iran has foiled attempts by its foreign enemies to turn legitimate protests into an insurgency to overthrow the Islamic Republic, according to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Comments on his Twitter feed and in Iranian media underscored the establishment's confidence that it has extinguished the unrest that spread to more than 80 cities in which at least 22 people died since late December.

The Revolutionary Guards, the military force loyal to Mr Khamenei, said on Sunday security forces had put an end to the unrest that it said had been whipped up by foreign enemies.

At least 1,000 people have been arrested in the biggest anti-government protests for nearly a decade, with the judiciary saying ringleaders could face the death penalty.

Mr Khamenei said US President Donald Trump was grandstanding when he tweeted support for protesters he said were trying "to take back their corrupt government" and promising "great support from the United States at the appropriate time!"

The Iranian leader tweeted: "… this man who sits at the head of the White House — although, he seems to be a very unstable man — he must realize that these extreme and psychotic episodes won't be left without a response."

As well as Washington and London, Mr Khamenei blamed the violence on Israel, exiled dissident group People's Mujahedin of Iran and "a wealthy government" in the Gulf, a reference to Iran's regional rival, Saudi Arabia.

In a rare public appearance, the head of Israeli intelligence agency Mossad said the protests were due to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's failure to improve people's economic or social circumstances, but he said they were unlikely to overthrow the establishment.

"In Iran too, we have eyes and ears," Mossad chief Yossi Cohen told a Finance Ministry conference in Jerusalem.

"One shouldn't develop high hopes, though I would be happy to see a meaningful revolution."

Mr Khamenei has called the protests — which were initially about the economy but soon turned political — "playing with fireworks", but he said citizens had a right to air legitimate concerns, a rare concession by a leader who usually voices clear support for security crackdowns.

"These concerns must be addressed. We must listen, we must hear. We must provide answers within our means," Mr Khamenei was quoted as saying, hinting that not only the government of Rouhani, but his own clerical leadership must also respond.
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei says that Iran has extinguished the unrest and has foiled attempts to turn legitimate protests into an insurgency to overthrow the Islamic Republic. He went on to identify the United States, Britain, Israel, the People's Mujahedin of Iran and "a wealthy government" in the Persian Gulf among Iran's foreign enemies.