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Iran's Ambassador to Lebanon Mojtaba Amani said in a December 8, 2022 interview on Al-Manar TV (Hizbullah-Lebanon) that the death of Jina (Mahsa) Amini, whose death while in custody of Iran's morality police several months ago sparked nationwide protests, was a "normal thing" that could have happened anywhere. He said that such things can happen during an arrest, and that "media armies" that are hostile to Iran have been using the incident as a pretext to "incite" Iranians to make "anti-Iranian demands". He also claimed that Iran's enemies have blown the protests out of proportion. In addition, Amani said that "foreigners" are aiming to weaken Lebanon and the Lebanese presidency in order to rob Hizbullah of support and in order to enable Israel to "do whatever it wants" in Lebanon.
Mojtaba Amani: "Some [foreigners] are interfering so that the president of Lebanon will be weak and will not support the resistance, so this will enable them to interfere even more and weaken Lebanon for the next 40 years. They want to allow Israel to come to Lebanon and do whatever it wants. Israel needs a place in its neighboring countries to which it can export its domestic crises — just like they did with Syria, Egypt, and Jordan.
"The death of Mahsa [Jina] Amini was a normal thing that can happen anywhere. Some people, when they are arrested or are given something, or for various reasons — can die. But we know that there are media armies hostile to us that are on the ready. All they need is a spark to take advantage [of the situation]. They are claiming that they are making a revolution in Iran. They are always on the ready, awaiting such incidents.
"They used the death of Mahsa Amini as a pretext to bring forth some anti-Iranian demands, and to incite people in Iran to take to the streets. In the first days after this incident, they managed to bring some people out to the streets — maybe 1,000, or close to it — but after... By the way, our enemies are in a big hurry."
Interviewer: "In what way?"
Amani: "They want to achieve their goal really quickly. As soon as this incident happened, they said that Iran was on the verge of collapse. Then they turned to the officials in Europe and America, and falsely advised them that Iran was on the verge of collapse, just like they had done in such cases in the past. That's their method.
"But now, more than two months have passed — something like 70 days. Now, they are repeating their false anti-Iranian propaganda. They claim that there are protesters on the ground, but for about 40 days, there has been nothing specific in Iran. There have been peaceful demonstrations in Iran for a while and for various reasons. These peaceful demonstrations were not confronted by police. Some demand higher salaries, some demand jobs... Social issues. There is a place near the parliament where people can gather, and the MPs come out to talk to them..."
Interviewer: "Demonstrations like in other countries."
Amani: "Yes."
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