Iran police chief warns anti-government protesters will be treated as 'enemies'

Tehran: Iranian protesters will be treated as enemies if they support Tehran's foes, the country's top police officer warned, as the Middle East war sparked fears mass anti-government rallies could reignite.

"If anyone comes forward in line with the wishes of the enemy, we will no longer see them as merely a protester, we will see them as an enemy," said national police chief Ahmad-Reza Radan in comments aired by state broadcaster IRIB late on Tuesday.

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"And we will do to them what we do to an enemy. We will deal with them in the same way we deal with enemies," he added.

"All our forces are also ready, with their hands on the trigger, prepared to defend their revolution."

His warning comes after the government cracked down on anti-government protests in January, sparked a month before over economic grievances in the sanctions-hit country.

The authorities deemed the protests to be "riots" and Radan at one point issued an ultimatum to protesters to hand themselves in or face the full force of the law.

Iranian authorities acknowledge more than 3,000 deaths in the unrest, including members of the security forces and bystanders, but say the violence was caused by "terrorist acts" fuelled by Iran's enemies.

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), however, has recorded more than 7,000 killings in the crackdown, the vast majority protesters, though the toll may be far higher. More than 50,000 have been arrested, it says.

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US President Donald Trump had initially cheered on the protesters, threatening to intervene on their behalf as authorities launched a deadly crackdown, but his threats soon shifted to Iran's nuclear programme.

Washington launched strikes with Israel on Iran on February 28, sparking retaliatory strikes by Tehran against Israel and US bases across the Gulf region.