Ukraine’s Zelenskiy: world must help Iran engineer change

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday that the world had to help Iranians build on protests to engineer change to free them from rule that brought evil to their own and other countries, including Ukraine.

Zelenskiy, speaking in his nightly video address, described the nationwide protests gripping Iran as an “uprising”.

He said the unrest showed that Russia had to rethink its close links with Iran, which have included its wide use of Iranian-made “Shahed” drones in the nearly four-year-old war against Kyiv.

“Every normal person on Earth very much wants the people of Iran to finally be fortunate enough to free themselves from the regime that exists there and that has brought so much evil, including to Ukraine and to other countries,” Zelenskiy said.

“It is important that the world not miss this moment, when change is possible. Every leader, every country, international organisations must engage now and help people remove those who are responsible for Iran unfortunately being what it has been.”

US-based rights group HRANA said it had verified the deaths of 572 people and the arrests of more than 10,000 in protests which began on December 28.

The protests have evolved from complaints about economic hardships to calls for the fall of the clerical establishment.

Russia and Iran have developed closer ties since the Kremlin ordered the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed a 20-year strategic partnership pact last year that deepened military ties and boosted cooperation in a range of areas. — Reuters