Speaking to reporters in Tehran on Wednesday, Major General Mohammad Hossein Baqeri, chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, denounced US allegations against Iran over deaths in the recent riots, saying that the US are themselves a symbol of oppression of people, having a long record of barbarism and crimes against humanity, and have no right to accuse a nation whose officials are elected by the people. He stressed that in the riots over the past weeks, none of the security forces carried combat weapons to deal with the demonstrators. Major General Baqeri also warned of enemy plots to blame the government for the deaths in recent riots, most of which, he said, occurred in suspicious circumstances: most cases of the deaths in the riots are suspicious because those killed have been shot from behind and the shootings have taken place in unknown areas. Security forces say many rioters arrested in the recent unrest have been trained by the MKO terrorists or had links with the Takfiri terrorist groups.
