Iran offered a muted warning on Tuesday for students who staged anti-government rallies, with the country's leaders under pressure after a recent mass protest movement and threats of US military action over its nuclear programme.
University students kicked off a new semester over the weekend with gatherings in which they revived slogans from nationwide protests against the country's clerical leadership that peaked in January and were met by a deadly crackdown.
On Monday, the third consecutive day of the campus protests, videos geolocated by AFP showed students at a university in Tehran burning the Iranian flag adopted by the Islamic Republic after the 1979 revolution that toppled the monarchy.
Iranian government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani, giving the first official reaction to the rallies, said on Tuesday that while students had a right to protest, they must "understand the red lines".
The flag, she added, was one "of these red lines that we must protect and not cross or deviate from, even at the height of anger".
She said Iran's students "have wounds in their hearts and have seen scenes that may upset and anger them; this anger is understandable".
The initial wave of protests began in December, sparked by economic woes in the sanctions-hit country, but soon grew into nationwide demonstrations that crested on January 8 and 9, posing one of the largest challenges to Iran's leaders in years.
The unrest prompted a violent government crackdown that killed thousands of people.
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) has recorded more than 7,000 deaths, while warning that the full toll is likely far higher.
Iranian officials acknowledge more than 3,000 deaths, but say the violence was caused by "terrorist acts" fuelled by the United States and Israel.
During the protests, the government had sought to walk a line between acknowledging protesters' legitimate economic grievances while condemning so-called "rioters".
Mohajerani on Tuesday said a fact-finding mission is investigating "the causes and factors" of the protests and will provide reports.
US pressure
The crackdown in January prompted US President Donald Trump to threaten to intervene militarily on the protesters' behalf, though the focus of his threats soon shifted to Iran's contentious nuclear programme.
Since then, the US has carried out a massive military build-up in the Middle East aimed at pressuring Tehran into cutting a deal, even as the two sides pursue indirect negotiations, set to resume on Thursday in Geneva.
Washington deployed one aircraft carrier group attached to the USS Abraham Lincoln to the Arabian Sea, and a second, that of the USS Gerald R Ford, is currently at a US base in Crete en route to the region.
Iran insists its nuclear programme is for civilian use, but the West believes it is aimed at building an atomic bomb.
Iran has vowed to retaliate "ferociously" against any attack from the United States, even a limited one, which Trump has publicly acknowledged he is considering.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards, the ideological arm of the military, carried out drills on the shores of the Gulf in their own show of force, state media said Tuesday.
"Very good measures have been designed in various sectors, including missiles, artillery, drones, special forces, armoured vehicles and armoured personnel carriers," Mohammad Karami, commander of IRGC ground forces, told state television.
He said the drills were being conducted "based on the threats that exist", without elaborating.
Trump on Monday denied US media reports that the country's top military officer, General Dan Caine, had flagged the risks of a major operation against Iran – pointing to munitions shortages and the potential for lengthy entanglement, among others.
"General Caine, like all of us, would like not to see War but, if a decision is made on going against Iran at a Military level, it is his opinion that it will be something easily won," Trump wrote on his Truth Social network.
Source: AFP