JAKARTA - The generals of Iran's elite forces admitted more than 300 people were killed in the riots during the national protests, Tehran's government's first statement on the number of casualties, repeating claims of Western and Saudi Arabia's involvement.
That was said by the Commander of the Aerospace Forces of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh. He also acknowledged among the dead included a'martir', a clear reference to Iranian security forces personnel.
"Everyone in this country has been affected by the death of this woman. I don't have the latest figures, but I think we may have had more than 300 martyrs and people killed in this country, including children, since this incident," he said in a video published by Mehr news agency, citing The Times of Israel November 29.
Hajizadeh's remarks show that many of those killed were ordinary Iranians who were not involved in the protests.
However, Hajizadeh did not give the exact figures of the victims or say where the estimates came from.
However, that estimate is much lower than the number of casualties reported by human rights activists in Iran, a US-based group that has been monitoring since protests erupted.
The activist group said 451 protesters and 60 security forces had been killed since the start of the riots, with more than 18,000 people having been detained.
Last week, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said the death toll during the protests in Iran stood at around 300, citing The National News.
General Hajizadeh reiterated official claims that the protests were sparked by Iranian enemies, including Western countries and Saudi Arabia, without providing evidence. Protesters say they are fed up after decades of social and political repression, denying having a foreign agenda.
Meanwhile, voters surrounding Washington's insistence that Iran be expelled from the UN women's equality agency will be held on December 14, diplomats said on Monday.
The US is lobbying for Iran to be punished for its rejection of women's rights and its crackdown on protesters.
Washington circulated a draft resolution on the move on Monday. This condemns Iran's policy of "strongly contradicting the human rights of women and girls and the mandate of the Women's Status Commission", Reuters reported.
It is known that Iran has just started a four-year term in a 45-member commission, which meets every March and aims to promote gender equality and women's empowerment.
The US-designed resolution will "eliavely remove" Iran from the Women's Status Commission for the remainder of the 2022 to 2026 term.
"The US and others have actively used the phone to garner support to remove Iran from the UN Commission for Women's Status," a UN diplomat told Reuters.
Earlier, the UN Rights Council last week agreed on an independent investigation mission into Iran's suppression of protesters.
Iran accuses western countries of using councils to target Iran in "terrible and embarrassing" steps.
It is known that a wave of protests in Iran began on September 16, following the death of Mahsa Amini (22) in detention, a Kurdish woman who was arrested for allegedly violating dress terms for women in the country.
It quickly escalated to a call to overthrow Iran's theoretics, posing one of Tehran's most serious challenges since the 1979 revolution.
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