Iran deploys Iraqi, Afghan mercenaries to stem protests

Iran on Thursday deployed Iraq's Popular Mobilisation Forces and Afghan mercenaries in order to stem the anti-government protests in the country, that has now entered its seventh day.

According to sources as quoted by Al-Arabiya, they have been deployed alongside Iran's Revolutionary Guards and security forces in the streets of Abadan, Tehran and Khorramshahr and in Al-Thawra area of Ahvaz.

Opposition website Amad News said the Revolutionary Guards brought thousands of Afghan mercenaries from Syria and deployed them in the cities of Mashhad and Isfahan to suppress the protests.

Elsewhere, the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan deployed Peshmerga forces in Kurdish areas to detain the Kurdish protestors who would attempt to join the protests.

The Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Tuesday, blamed the country's 'enemies' to instigate the ongoing anti-government protests.

Iran is still witnessing a wave of demonstrations, being held in many cities across the country as people took to raising anti-government slogans, over alleged corruption and rising prices that plagued the people of the country earlier this week.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Sunday that the people of Iran were free to protest peacefully, but rejected protesting by violence.

Iran has blocked two popular social media apps - Telegram and Instagram - as a security measure.

Also, three protesters were reportedly shot dead by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in central Iran last week.

The official death toll in the protests has risen to 20. Scores of protestors have been arrested in the last few days.