New Delhi [India], January 23 : Iran has economic problems due to sanctions against it and some people are angry "but other people use this opportunity to reach their target and achieve their aims", Dr Abdul Majid Hakeem Ilahi, Representative of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has said and noted that the situation at the moment "is very good, under control" and is not like what is being mentioned on some some social media handles.
In an exclusive interview with ANI, Abdul Majid Hakeem Ilahi said that there is need to distinguish between "reality of the situation" and "imagination" about the situation in Iran.
"Concerning the situation in Iran, actually we have two things which we have to divide and differentiate between them. The first one is the fact and the reality of the situation. The second one is imagination, which is created by the journalist's narration, by the enemies, or by other people. There is a very deep gap between these two realities," he said.
"The first one is fact, reality, and the second one is imagination...Yes, we have economic problems; some are angry with the situation of the economy, which was created by some countries against Iran, based on the sanctions. But other people use this opportunity to reach their target and achieve their aims. Now, at the moment, the situation is very good, is under control and is not as much as mentioned on social media," he added.
Asked about people killed in Iran during the crackdown on nationwide protests, Abdul Majid Hakeem Ilahi, said there are some people who are killed, but the numbers are not clear..
"At first, these protesters attacked civilians, policemen, and businessmen and killed them as they wanted to benefit from this situation, and they mentioned that these people were killed by policemen, which is not true...Yes, the number of killings was mentioned by some organisations which are based in the UK, the US, and in European countries or other countries. But these numbers are incorrect and fake. They want to increase the number of killings to mention that the government killed them," he said.
He alleged that there have been attempts to create problems.
"Other people use this opportunity to come out and to do some demonstration against the people and exactly what's happened here is the same lot....like what happened by ISIS in some years ago because they beheaded some innocent people, they burned some innocent people and they attacked some mosques and they burned some library. Even they attacked some policemen....because some enemies tried to bring problem in the society of Iran," he said.
He said a lot of the numbers of those killed in protest are fake.
"Recently it was an interview with a senator in America. I said these organisations are made by US, based whether in the UK or in the US....mentioned a lot of numbers which are fake....these numbers are not correct," he said.
"We have a lot of evidence. The majority of them are innocent people who were working in their shops, in the clinic or in the hospital or wrere in the mosque. They were killed by these protesters. But some protesters were also killed after attacking policemen and after attacking the civilians, and the police wanted to stop them," he added.
Iranian state television has released the first official death toll from the recent antigovernment protests that engulfed the country, reporting that 3,117 people were killed during the crackdown, as reported by Al Jazeera.