Iran Interior Minister: Hundreds of banks and government bases burnt amidst mass protests

Iran's Interior Minister, Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, stated that hundreds of banks and government establishments had been burned in the recent unrests that have plagued the country. According to reports, about 731 banks and 140 government establishments were burnt during the mass protests.

Protests against hike in prices of gasoline

Fazli stated that more than 50 bases being used by the security officials were attacked and almost 70 gas stations were also burned without mentioning the location of the attacks. According to reports, Fazli stated people numbering up to 200,000 were a part of the protests that began on November 15 after the government announced that they were increasing prices of gasoline. 

The mass unrests turned political in nature with demonstrators calling top officials in the government to step down from their posts. However, the Iranian government put the blame on people who were in exile alongside the United States of America, Israel and Saudi Arabia for fanning the protests. 

Iran witnessed protests as the fresh sanctions imposed by the US this year cut of almost all of Iran's oil exports and similar kind of protests were witnessed in Iraq and Lebanon against their governments that included heavily armed pro-Iran factions.

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US imposed sanctions

The sanctions imposed by the US aimed to put a restriction on Iran's nuclear ambitions, ballistic missile program and impact in Syria, Iraq and other countries. Its oil exports have declined to under 400,000 barrels for each day from about 2.5 million barrels.

Also, The Trump-led US administration has issued a warning to Chinese shipping companies in relation to them allegedly switching off their transponders to conceal Iranian oil shipments that are in direct violation of the sanctions imposed by the United States of America.

Read: Top US General Meets Israeli Brass Amid Iran Tensions

China is the sole country buying Iranian oil after Donald Trump imposed sanctions on Iran's main oil export. This happened due to Trump acting tough with Iran in order to put a complete stop to Iran's oil sales. The US imposed sanctions on five Chinese people and two Chinese COSCO Shipping Corp subsidiaries, stating that they shipped unrefined Iranian fuel, completely disregarding the sanctions imposed on them.

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Read: Iran Warns US, Israel And Saudi Of Consequences If They Provoked Unrest

(With inputs from agencies)