Iranian security forces have arrested several foreign nationals, including Americans, Britons and French, the Fars news agency reported, citing Reuters.

Iran claims that protests across the country are being provoked by “thugs” who are linked to the country’s “foreign enemies”. Violent street movements erupted after a young Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, 22, died on September 16 in moral police custody.

The Fars news agency, which is considered semi-official because of its alleged links to the Revolutionary Guards – Iran’s elite military force – says that following the “recent uprisings”, “citizens from 14 countries, including the United States, Russia, Austria, France, the United States, the United Kingdom and Afghanistan”, among which Afghans are the most numerous.

Fars did not specify when or where the arrests took place, and it was unclear whether they included the nine foreigners Tehran announced last month as being detained for participating in the protests.

Reuters estimates that the current movement against the Islamic regime in Tehran is one of the biggest since the revolution that brought Muslim clerics to power in 1979, but it does not appear to be close to toppling the system.

Iran has accused the US and some European countries of using the unrest to destabilize the Islamic Republic. (source Agerpres)