These were not peaceful demonstrations; they wanted to turn Iran into Syria. Iranian ambassador to Armenia Khalil Shirgholami told this to a press conference Monday—and referring to the demonstrations that erupted in Iran in January, which drew thousands of people.

“As you know, there were protests in Iran for several days, especially by representatives of the markets, due to certain economic issues. The Iranian constitution and laws stipulate that the people have the right to peaceful demonstrations, and during these incidents also, the Iranian government officially recognized the right to peaceful demonstrations.

The very same forces that launched this aggression against Iran, especially on January 8-9, deployed armed and organized groups among the people demonstrating in Iran, as a result of which we suffered heavy losses. They were targeting and shooting both the security forces and the civilian population, resulting in numerous losses. They also destroyed and damaged public facilities, private facilities, and people's property. They wanted to turn Iran into Syria, which they failed to do.

It is natural and obvious that there is a clear difference between peaceful demonstrations and actions, crimes accompanied by violent force. No country will tolerate actions accompanied by violence. There is no country that will tolerate those individuals and those forces that shoot at security forces.

Unfortunately, as a result of the actions of these organized criminal groups, as well as during the corresponding actions of the security forces against these criminal groups, as a result of that chaos, many of our compatriots were killed and injured,” Shirgholami said.

He noted that the Iranian government has issued a transparent list, which presents both the civilian casualties, members of criminal groups, and members of the security forces who were killed.

“When they did not achieve their goal, [US President Donald] Trump declared that ‘I will help, I will send help.’ I will now show you Mr. Trump’s ‘help’ to the Iranian people. This is Mr. Trump’s ‘help’ that he has sent to the Iranian people,” said the Iranian ambassador to Armenia and showed photos of the bodies of schoolgirls killed in the American missile strike on Iran.

He admitted that people in Iran were dissatisfied with the social situation, but noted: “The conditions in which the Iranian people are today are due to the crime that was committed against Iran, because Iran wanted to be independent, but these forces wanted Iran to be their slave. They subjected our country to severe sanctions that no country could withstand even for a month.

When a group of people want to express their dissatisfaction with economic conditions within the framework of a peaceful demonstration, they send representatives of their organized criminal groups, trying to turn it into chaos and unrest. And then they announce why the Iranian police are targeting those armed men who are shooting at the security forces," said the Iranian envoy to Armenia, and expressed confidence that the Iranian people will never sell their homeland to foreigners.