AYATOLLAH CONDEMNS `RIOTS'

Blames U.S., Israel for Iran protests

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei broke weeks of silence on Monday to condemn what he called “rioting” and accuse the United States and Israel of planning the protests.

The unrest, ignited by the death of a 22-year-old woman in the custody of Iran's morality police, is flaring up across the country for a third week despite government efforts to crack down.

Speaking to a cadre of police students in Tehran, Khamenei said he was “deeply heartbroken” by the death of 22-yearold Mahsa Amini in police custody, calling it a “tragic incident.” However, he lambasted the protests as a foreign plot to destabilize Iran.

“This rioting was planned,” he said. “These riots and insecurities were designed by America and the Zionist regime, and their employees.”

Canada on Monday imposed fresh sanctions, targeting 25 more senior Iranian officials and nine government entities. The sanctions name members of the morality police force and its chief, as well as Iran's highest-ranking soldier.

They freeze Canadian-held assets and ban the individuals from entering Canada.

Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly said in a statement posted to Twitter that the sanctions are a result of Iran's “grave and ongoing breaches of international law” and its “blatant disregard for human life.”

Canada had already imposed sanctions on a total of 41 Iranian individuals and 161 Iranian entities.

“The continued and systemic persecution of Iranian women must stop,” Joly said. “Canada applauds the courage and actions of Iranians and will stand by them as they fight for their rights and dignity.”

Amini was arrested on Sept. 13 in Tehran for “unsuitable attire” by the morality police. She died three days later in hospital after falling into a coma.

Amini's family says she was beaten to death in custody. Police authorities deny those allegations and say Amini died of a heart attack.

Her death has sparked huge protests in Iran and by Iranians in other parts of the world. The unrest has spiralled into the biggest show of opposition to Iran's authorities in years.

On Monday, Iran closed its top technology university following an hours-long standoff between students and the police that turned the prestigious institution into the latest flashpoint and ended with hundreds of young people arrested.

Sharif University of Technology in Tehran announced that only doctoral students would be allowed on campus until further notice following hours of turmoil Sunday.

Witnesses, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the police kept hundreds of students holed up on campus and fired rounds of tear gas to disperse the demonstrations. The student association said plainclothes officers surrounded the school as protests roiled the campus after nightfall and detained at least 300 students. Officers beat a professor and several university employees, the association added.

The state-run IRNA news agency sought to downplay the violent standoff, reporting a “protest gathering” took place without causing casualties. But it also said police released 30 students from detention, acknowledging many had been caught in the dragnet by mistake as they tried to go home.

The crackdown sparked backlash on Monday at home and abroad.

“Suppose we beat and arrest, is this the solution?” asked a column in the Jomhouri Eslami daily, a hardline Iranian newspaper. “Is this productive?”

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock condemned the “the regime's brute force” at Sharif University as “an expression of sheer fear at the power of education and freedom.”

“The courage of Iranians is incredible,” she said.

The demonstrations have tapped a deep well of grievances in Iran, including the country's social restrictions, political repression and ailing economy strangled by American sanctions. The unrest has continued in Tehran and far-flung provinces even as authorities have disrupted internet access and blocked social media apps.

Protests also have spread across the Middle East and to Europe, Canada and the United States.

In his remarks on Monday, Khamenei condemned scenes of protesters ripping off their hijabs and setting fire to mosques, banks and police cars as “actions that are not normal, that are unnatural.” He warned that “those who foment unrest to sabotage the Islamic Republic deserve harsh prosecution and punishment.”