Iran turned to Russia for help in putting down the popular uprising and asked for equipment to deal with the protests, as well as send advisers for training. This is reported by Iran International TV channel with reference to secret documents. Also, the Iranian Ministry of Internal Affairs officially recognized the death of 200 citizens during the protests, but the data differs from the information provided by human rights activists (about 460 dead).
According to the channel, the Iranian regime is preparing for a long-term confrontation with the protesters and is concerned about limited resources in terms of manpower and equipment. At the same time, Tehran relies on information from Moscow to assess the situation inside the republic. Information from the documents corroborates earlier statements from the White House.
In October, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre already said that Moscow could help the Islamic Republic, drawing on its own experience in suppressing demonstrations. In response, Iran continues to supply weapons to the Russian Federation for the war with Ukraine.
“The evidence that Iran is helping Russia to unleash a war against Ukraine is obvious and publicly available. The more isolated countries become, the closer they become. Our message to Iran is very, very clear: stop killing your own people and stop sending weapons to Russia to kill Ukrainians.”
Then Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said that the White House is confident that Russia is helping Iran in suppressing the protests: “We know that they may consider the possibility of some kind of support for Iran with the protesters. And, unfortunately, Russia has experience in this.” According to him, this is another example of how Russia and Iran are now working together, violating not only the human rights and civil rights of people in Iran, but also putting the lives of Ukrainians in even greater danger.
The vice police arrested Mahsa Amini, 22, on September 13 in Tehran, allegedly for violating the country's strict hijab law, with her hair visible. The family was told that she would be released from the police station after a "re-education session". She died in an Iranian hospital on 16 September. Witnesses reported that Amini was beaten in the detention van, but this was denied by the police. Doctors diagnosed Amini with a stroke and a heart attack, her kidneys failed, and the girl fell into a coma. Law enforcers insist that she died due to heart problems. Officials also deny all allegations and say that the deceased simply had heart problems.
After that, protests erupted in western Iran. The security forces use violence against the demonstrators, there are dead and wounded. In total, since the beginning of the unrest, about 18 thousand people have been arrested, several death sentences have been handed down, none of them have yet been carried out. Since September 17, 462 protesters and 61 security officials have died in protests, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).