Larijani urges Judiciary to firmly deal with rioters, instigators
The secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) called on the Judiciary to firmly confront armed groups and individuals seeking to foment insecurity and unrest by hijacking rightful public demands and protests over the livelihood problems across the country.
Ali Larijani was cited by Tasnim news agency as making the remark on Sunday amid heightened tensions and week-long widespread rallies across the country over livelihood woes stemming from the national currency depreciation.
The protests were exploited by armed elements after they transformed them into violent clashes by dispatching firearms and Molotov cocktails to streets, claiming lives and destroying and setting ablaze military and government centers.
“The Judiciary must deal severely with those stoking unrest, killing people, and sabotaging public property. Fortunately, the Judiciary chief is resolute to do so, and perpetrators of such crimes will be adamantly confronted,” Larijani said.
The head of SNSC also described the saboteurs and vandals as part of a “quasi-terrorist urban group,” stressing that their attempts aimed at storming military and law enforcement buildings to acquire weapons indicate that they were after a civil war.
“The country is facing economic hardships. Not only insecurity and destruction fail to resolve the issue, but will also exacerbate it. Setting on fire economic centers, religious and public sites, busses, and urban amenities, which are supplied through taxes, directly inflict damage on the economy,” Larijani said, adding: “Unrest begets economic recession, and such destructive measures would not lead to the path of resolving hardships.”
The Iranian economy has been grappling with the depreciation of the national currency and soaring inflation, developments that have unsettled markets and weighed heavily on households and businesses.
Various cities have been the scene of protests since December 28, with a number of rioters and agitators seizing on the chaos and agitation to destroy and burn down public property, in what was prompted by US and Israeli provocations.
In remarks on Friday morning, Leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said the vandals have destroyed the buildings of their own country in Tehran and other cities in order to appease the US head of state.
“The US president has the blood of more than 1,000 Iranians on his hands,” the Leader said, adding that Donald Trump has confessed that he had ordered attacks during the 12-day war in June 2025 that killed upwards of 1,000 Iranians, including military commanders, scientists, and ordinary people.
The Leader lambasted the incognizant people who have been deceived by the US president and have set the garbage cans ablaze to please Trump.
Ayatollah Khamenei made it clear that the Islamic Republic, which has come into being with the sacrifices made by hundreds of thousands of noble people, will never back off in the face of vandals or tolerate mercenary activities.
The Leader also called on the Iranian youth to preserve preparedness and unity, stressing that a unified and integrated nation present in the scene will overcome all enemies.