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 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 in Iran 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. 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. They include around 90 university students, reformist lawmaker Mahmoud Sadeghi was quoted as saying by the semi-official ISNA news agency. 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. 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. 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.
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.