Iran's Raisi downplays protests in visit to flashpoint Kurdish city
President Ebrahim Raisi made no reference to the killings of the protesters in the government crackdown and once again blamed the unrest on outside enemies.
Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi described the public protests that have gripped his country since mid-September as "yet another disgraceful miscalculation" by "the enemy."
Raisi made his comments in Sanandaj, Kurdistan province, one of the epicenters of the ongoing unrest in which scores of protesters have been killed, according to rights groups, and thousands more languish behind bars, awaiting hefty sentences.
"The enemies were under the impression that they could destabilize Kurdistan by inciting discontent, but they failed to mind the fact that the once young sapling of the Islamic Republic has now grown into a firm and stable tree in Kurdistan and other parts of the country," he declared.
The Iranian president did not comment on the crackdown, nor did he promise any probe into the protester deaths, but praised the Kurdish minority for its "resistance" against the enemies of the Islamic Republic.
