Iran's president tries to appease public anger as protests spread to schools

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi addresses the parliament in a vote of confidence session for his proposed labor minister in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2022. (Vahid Salemi/AP)

Vahid Salemi / Vahid Salemi

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Tuesday appealed for national unity and tried to allay anger against the country’s rulers, even as the anti-government protests that have engulfed the country for weeks continued to spread to universities and high schools.

Raisi acknowledged that the Islamic Republic had “weaknesses and shortcomings,” but repeated the official line that the unrest sparked last month by the death of a 22-year-old woman in the custody of the country’s morality police was nothing short of a plot by Iran’s enemies.

“Today the country’s determination is aimed at cooperation to reduce people’s problems,” he told a parliament session. “Unity and national integrity are necessities that render our enemy hopeless.”