In interviews with Middle East Eye earlier this week, protesters described an economy that has become unmanageable for ordinary households. “Every time we get tired of this situation and come out to the streets, we are suddenly called Israelis or CIA agents,” she added. Mehdi, 31, from Falavarjan in Isfahan province, said he joined demonstrations after hearing comments by senior officials. “We are exhausted,” he said. “Our lives and our youth have been wasted under the Islamic Republic. Now they threaten us.
Hrana, an Iranian rights organisation, said that as of Friday, it had documented at least 65 deaths. That included 50 protesters and 15 security personnel. State television broadcast footage of funerals of security officers it said were killed in the cities of Hamedan, Qom and Shiraz. The IRGC public relations office said three members of the Basij security force were killed and five wounded during confrontations with “armed rioters” in Gachsaran, in southwestern Iran.
