Iran opposition leader Maryam Rajavi denounces ‘shooting defenseless residents’

The Head of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, Maryam Rajavi, hailed demonstrators in the Iranian city of Khorramshahr who protested against water pollution, and urged all relevant human rights organizations to condemn the international affairs assistant in the Iranian judiciary, Mohammad-Javad Larijani’s threats to kill protesters.

In a series of tweets, Rajavi condemned the shooting of “defenseless residents” in Khorramshahr, calling it a crime against humanity.

Iranian state media reported that several demonstrators were injured Saturday in Khorramshahr when they clashed with police.

Protests erupted after about 500 people gathered at a main square in the city to protest against pollution that is seeping into the city’s drinking water network, the state-run news agency IRNA said.

In another tweet, Rajavi called the Khorramshahr uprising heroic, while urging the international community to take action against the Iranain regime.

Rajavi spoke while at the Iran opposition conference named “Free Iran” headed by the National Council of Resistance of Iran in Paris.

According to IRNA, there have been several protests against water pollution in Khorramshahr and the neighboring city of Abadan over the past three days.

The governor denied reports that Iranian security forces had shot and killed at least four protesters. “No one has been killed,” IRNA said, quoting Khorramshahr deputy governor Valiollah Hayati.

Mounting economic woes

Iran has also been facing mounting economic woes since the United States in May pulled out of a 2015 accord between Tehran and world powers that had lifted international sanctions in exchange for a scaling back of the Islamic republic’s nuclear program.

Iran’s currency plunged almost 50 percent in value in the past six months against the US dollar and inflation is on the rise.

Traders in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar held a rare strike on Monday against the collapse of the Iranian rial on the foreign exchange.

Brief scuffles also broke out on Monday between protesters and police in the capital.