TEHRAN, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian has ordered the public release of the names of all those killed in recent unrest and called for an accelerated release of detainees, his office said on Wednesday evening.
A system is being set up to verify information about the victims in a "clear response" to false reports and fabricated statistics, Seyyed Mehdi Tabatabaei, deputy for communications at the president's office, wrote on social media platform X.
The Iranian government has reported 3,117 deaths during the unrest. The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency has reported at least 6,000, though that figure could not be independently verified.
During a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Pezeshkian also instructed Justice Minister Amin-Hossein Rahimi to work with the judiciary to speed up the release of those detained during the unrest, according to a statement on the president's website.
He also urged authorities to handle cases involving artists and cultural and social figures through dialogue rather than punishment, the statement said.
Acknowledging the "complicated dimensions" of the unrest, Pezeshkian said foreign actors are seeking to exploit Iran's instability. At the same time, he stressed that the government must identify and address internal shortcomings rather than blaming external forces entirely.
He directed provincial governors to set up specialized committees to investigate the causes of the unrest.
The unrest began Dec. 28, when shopkeepers in Tehran's Grand Bazaar closed their stores to protest the collapse of the rial and plans to cut certain food and fuel subsidies. The demonstrations quickly spread nationwide, taking on a political character and turning violent. Iranian authorities have repeatedly dismissed the unrest as foreign-instigated, blaming the United States and Israel. ■
