Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Sunday his government was ready to address mounting economic grievances behind weeks of unrest, while warning that “rioters” and “terrorist elements” were exploiting protests to destabilise the country.
Speaking in an interview with state broadcaster IRIB, Pezeshkian said authorities were listening to protesters angered by soaring prices and the sharp depreciation of the Iranian rial, but accused the United States and Israel of orchestrating violence linked to the demonstrations.
“The same people who struck this country during the recent war are now trying to escalate unrest through economic pressure,” Pezeshkian said, referring to Israel’s 12-day conflict with Iran in June.
He alleged that foreign-backed groups had carried out attacks on public property, including a bazaar in the northern city of Rasht and several mosques.
Protests began nearly three weeks ago when merchants at Tehran’s Grand Bazaar shut their shops in response to the currency’s collapse, before spreading nationwide and evolving into broader anti-government demonstrations.
They are the largest since the 2022–2023 protests sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini.
Pezeshkian said the government would resolve shopkeepers’ problems “by any means necessary” but urged the public to distinguish between peaceful demonstrators and those he described as violent agitators.
“Rioters are not protesting people. We hear the protesters and have made every effort to solve their problems,” he said.
State media reported that 109 members of the security forces have been killed since the unrest began.
Authorities have not released an official death toll for demonstrators, but opposition activists abroad say hundreds of protesters have been killed.
Authorities declared three days of national mourning on Sunday “in honour of martyrs killed in resistance against the United States and the Zionist regime”, according to state media.
The interior ministry said the unrest was subsiding, while the attorney general warned that participants could face severe penalties, including execution.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “shocked” by reports of violence against protesters and urged Iranian authorities to show restraint.
“The rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly must be fully respected and protected,” he said on X.
Iranian officials have sought to draw a line between economic protesters and what they describe as foreign-trained rioters.
Senior figures have acknowledged public anger over inflation, price rises and the currency’s collapse, which has severely eroded living standards.
