Iran's President Pezeshkian calls for solidarity rather than protests

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian called on the population to show solidarity instead of staging protests in the current critical situation.

"We are in a situation where, alongside pressure from foreign enemies, there are unfortunately also [protest] actions taking place inside the country," Pezeshkian said on Wednesday, according to state news agency IRNA.

In such a crisis it is crucial to strengthen solidarity in order to overcome the existing problems, the president added.

Shortly after the protests, Pezeshkian promised in a brief message economic reforms and declared his willingness for dialogue.

However, this found no resonance among the demonstrators. For them, the president and his policies are the main cause of the current economic misery in the country, which is in fact rich in oil and gas.

Iran attributes the protests of the past four days to a "foreign conspiracy" aimed at pushing the country into unrest and instability.

Iran's arch-enemy Israel is particularly in focus of these conspiracy theories. The Israeli intelligence service Mossad and former prime minister Naftali Bennett have so far openly supported the demonstrators.

On the fourth consecutive day, protests against the Islamic system again broke out in the capital Tehran and other cities. Reports suggest violent clashes with police and the security forces.

In Tehran, four students were arrested at the University of Tehran. Social media reports of a death case in the southern province of Fars could not yet be verified.

The trigger for Sunday's protests was the sudden rise in foreign exchange rates, which pushed the national currency, the rial, to a record low and paralysed trade in Tehran's business districts.

The initially economically motivated protests quickly took on political dimensions – with slogans against the Islamic system such as "Death to the dictator."