Shafaq News– Baghdad
Dozens of supporters of Iraqi armedfactions held a rally in Baghdad on Saturday in solidarity with Iran, asprotests continue across the Islamic Republic.
Shafaq News footage showeddemonstrators gathering on Palestine Street near the Popular MobilizationForces’ (PMF) media directorate, waving faction flags, and holding portraits ofIran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Protesters also displayed imagesof US President Donald Trump alongside Israeli Prime Minister BenjaminNetanyahu marked with an “X,” signaling rejection.
The rally followed remarks earliertoday by Khamenei, who blamed Trump for casualties during the protests in Iran. In a speech, Khamenei accused the US president of responsibility for what hedescribed as human and material losses.
Protests erupted in Iran onDecember 28 over economic grievances and later expanded into broaderdemonstrations calling for an end to clerical rule. Rights group HRANA said morethan 3,000 people have been killed since the unrest began, though the figurescould not be independently verified due to restrictions on reporting.
: Iran’s protests between economic crisis and political contestation
Iranian officials haverepeatedly accused the United States and Israel of seeking to destabilize thecountry, with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi asserting that protestsbegan peacefully and within constitutional bounds before turning violentfollowing the “infiltration of armed groups.”
