Iran's Khamenei slams 'hooligan' protesters, backs petrol price hike that sparked anger

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei blamed "hooligans" for damaging property and said "all the centres of the world's wickedness against us have cheered" the unrest.

At least one person was killed and several wounded in two days of demonstrations that saw motorists block highways and others attack public property in cities across the Islamic republic. 

The protests flared hours after it was announced in the early hours of Friday that the price of petrol would be raised by 50 percent for the first 60 litres (16 gallons) and by 300 percent for anything above that each month.

The measure was expected to bring in 300 trillion rials ($2.55 billion) per annum, the head of the country's Planning and Budget Organisation, Mohammad Bagher Nobakht, said on state television.

About 60 million Iranians in need would get payments ranging from 550,000 rials ($4.68) for couples to slightly more than two million rials ($17.46) for families with five members or more, he said.

Under the scheme, drivers with fuel cards will pay 15,000 rials (13 US cents) a litre for the first 60 litres of petrol bought each month, with each additional litre costing them 30,000 rials.

Fuel cards were first introduced in 2007 with a view to reforming the subsidies system and curbing large-scale smuggling.

The scheme was agreed by the High Council of Economic Coordination made up of the president, parliament speaker and judiciary chief.

Khamenei said that "I am not an expert and there are different opinions but I had said that if the heads of the three branches make a decision I will support it".

"The heads of the branches made a decision with the backing of expert opinion and naturally it must be implemented," he said in a speech aired on state television.

"Some people would definitely get upset over this decision... but damaging and setting fire (to property) is not something (normal) people would do, it is hooligans," he added.

Fires and roadblocks

Khamenei also pointed at regime opponents abroad in what he called "the centres of the world's wickedness".

These included the Pahlavi royal family ousted in the 1979 Islamic Revolution and the People's Mujahedeen of Iran (MEK) group, which Iran considers a "terrorist" cult.

"What I am asking is that no one help these criminals," the supreme leader said, calling on people to distance themselves from those stoking the street protests.

Some of the worst violence occurred in the central city of Sirjan, whose acting governor Mahmoudabadi said a civilian was killed but it was unclear if he had been "shot or not".

He said some people had "destroyed public property, damaged fuel stations and also wanted to access the oil company's main fuel depots and set fire to them".

In Tehran on Saturday, protesters were seen blocking a road while elsewhere in the capital demonstrators gathered around a burning vehicle.

Similar scenes were witnessed in the central cities of Shiraz and Isfahan.

Police spokesman Ahmad Nourian warned that security forces "will not hesitate to confront those disrupting peace and security and will identify the ringleaders and field forces and confront them".

He called on people to denounce "the opportunists and mercenaries" and help the police keep the peace, in comments quoted by ISNA.

Internet blocked

Access to the internet has been restricted since the demonstrations broke out.

Netblocks, an internet monitoring website, said late on Saturday the country was in the grip of a shutdown. 

"Confirmed: Iran is now in the midst of a near-total national internet shutdown; realtime network data show connectivity at 7% of ordinary levels after twelve hours of progressive network disconnections," it said on Twitter.

It came after a decision by the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, according to a report on Sunday by the semi-official ISNA news agency.

"Upon the decision of the Security Council of Iran and communicated to internet operators, access to internet has been limited as of last night and for 24 hours," it quoted what it called an informed source at the information and communications technology ministry as saying.

Iran's economy has been battered since May last year when President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the US from a 2015 nuclear agreement and reimposed crippling sanctions.

The rial has plummeted, inflation is running at more than 40 percent and the International Monetary Fund expects Iran's economy to contract by nine percent this year and stagnate in 2020.

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