The leader of UK Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, has charged protesting Iranians to sustain their agitation for a secular state and end Islamic government.

She also accused Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s regime of human rights abuses and exporting terrorism to other countries.

Ms Badenoch, in a statement on her X page on Friday, commended Iranians for being on the streets for about two weeks.

She said, “For nearly two weeks, ordinary Iranian men and women have bravely taken to the streets. They know all too well exactly what the mullahs are capable of: imprisonment, torture, disappearances, hangings. We stand with the Iranian people who want a secular, democratic future for Iran.”

The Tory leader berated the Iranian supreme leader for leading what she termed a repressive regime that violates human rights.

“Now the regime is doing what authoritarian governments always do when they are afraid: trying to silence the truth. By shutting down the internet, it is trying to cut Iranians off from one another and from the world,” Ms Badenoch said.

The Tory leader added, “A regime that represses its own people, crushes rights, and strips away basic freedoms is the same regime that exports terror, funds extremism, and threatens stability far beyond its borders. Even here in Britain, Iran is trying to murder its political opponents.”

Earlier on Friday, Mr Khamenei in a televised speech said, “There are people whose job is only about destruction,” adding that his government “will not back down” amid the protests that have rocked the country since December 28.

Mr Khamenei, 86, who has been Iran’s leader for over three decades, said “Last night in Tehran and in some other places, a group of vandals came and damaged buildings belonging to their own country just to please the president of the United States.”

He added, “He (Trump) wants to side with the rioters and harmful individuals. If he can, he should go and run his own country.”

Amid Iran’s towering inflation at 42 per cent and its currency, the rial, plummeting to an all-time low of 1.4 million rials per dollar, protesters, merchants, traders, and university students continue disrupting commercial and public activities across the country.

Since the protests broke out on December 28, over 42 persons, including minors, have been killed in brutal clampdown by security agencies.
On Thursday, Iran suffered internet blackout. Yet, protesters remained on the streets as demonstrations spilled into 285 locations in 92 cities across the world, while 27 provinces had witnessed protest gatherings since the demonstrations started 13 days ago.