Washington and Tehran step up war of words over Donald Trump’s threat to intervene in response to unrest
Iranian authorities have arrested key members of the protest movement that has rocked the country over the last two weeks, the national police chief has said, as Washington and Tehran threaten each other over the prospect of US intervention in the Islamic republic.
“Last night, significant arrests were made of the main elements in the riots, who, God willing, will be punished after going through legal procedures,” the police chief, Ahmad-Reza Radan, told state TV on Sunday, without specifying the number of those arrested.
Iran’s attorney general had said earlier that those who were caught protesting, or even helping protesters, could be charged with being “an enemy of God” – which is punished with the death penalty.
The protest movement in Iran, now in its second week, is the most significant unrest the country has experienced in years. Though triggered initially by a sudden slide in the country’s currency, protesters soon demanded political reform and called for the downfall of the government.
