Iran’s president blames Biden for ‘chaos, terror’ amid anti-regime protests

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Sunday blamed President Biden for inciting “chaos” and “terror” amid anti-regime protests happening around the country. 

In a statement through the country’s official news agency, Raisi, who was elected Iran’s president last year, gave a stern warning to Biden about the ongoing crisis in his country. 

“The American president, who allows himself through his comments to incite chaos, terror and destruction in another country, should be reminded of the eternal words of the founder of the Islamic Republic, who called America the great satan,” Raisi reportedly said.

Biden and other U.S. officials have condemned Iran for its treatment of women and the tactics it used to disperse demonstrators during the ongoing protests, sparked by the death of a young women arrested for improperly wearing a hijab.

“Iran has to end the violence against its own citizens simply exercising their fundamental rights,” Biden said in a statement on Saturday, according to Reuters. The U.S., along with other countries, has also imposed sanctions on Iran over its violent suppression of the protests.

The country’s morality police have killed at least 185 people in recent weeks, including at least 19 children, Iran Human Rights said last week.

Tensions between Iranian citizens and authorities have escalated amid protests to demand accountability for the death of a 22-year-old Iranian national Mahsa Amini and put an end to violence and discrimination toward women in the country. 

The protests have expanded in size and scope to include calls for the end of the government and ouster of its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Khamenie on Friday issued a stern warning to protesters via state TV, saying that the Islamic Republic could not be toppled.

“That seedling is a mighty tree now and no one should dare think they can uproot it,” he said, according to Reuters.

According to a United Nation Human Rights Office report, Amini died at a detention center after spending three days in custody of Iran’s morality police, and was  “severely beaten” during her detainment.  Iranian officials have denied the allegations of torture and ill-treatment in Amini’s death, saying that the Iranian national died of a heart attack while in police custody. 

In response to Amini’s death, workers in various economic sectors have conducted walkouts and strikes in protest of the government.