US to take 'aggressive steps' to support rioters in Iran

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The United States is taking it upon itself to carry out a series of "aggressive steps" to support the Iranians who participated in the riots that took place in the Islamic Republic over 22-year-old Mahsa Amini's death, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said on Sunday.

In another context, speaking at the Cabinet Meeting on Sunday night, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi referred to the US government's "unsparing support" for stoking unrest and insecurity in Iran and pointed out the US President's "baseless statements," in which he permits himself to sow "chaos, terror, and destruction" in another nation.

Mahsa Amini is a young Iranian woman whose case has been exploited by several Western media outlets in order to further promote Iranophobia by fabricating lies and making use of her medical condition that led to her death merely for political purposes.

Mainstream and social media outlets were swarmed with trumped-up news, as some media outlets, mostly Western, claimed that an alleged brutal arrest led to the death of Amini. 

After contacting several official sources in Iran, Al Mayadeen learned that Amini was never assaulted, beaten, or abused, and the proof was CCTV footage that slammed western reports as fake and fabricated.

Read next: US, 'Israel' behind riots in Iran: Khamenei

Washington intends to try Iranian government officials who participated in the "crackdown" on rioters, according to what Sullivan told CNN.

The US official said he met earlier in the week with Iranian "activists" operating outside of Iran to hear their proposals on how the US could support the riots in Iran.

The incident, recorded by the CCTV, shows a female police officer approaching Amini and pointing at her hijab. Amini and the officer entered into a verbal disagreement, after which the officer turned around and left Amini alone. 

At this point, and without any physical altercation taking place between the two - contrary to western media reports which claimed that Amini was brutally beaten - Amini fainted and it was later reported that she fell into a coma. The police officer can be seen rushing to support Amini to prevent her from falling. Amini was then transferred to the hospital for treatment. 

Last week, the Iranian Legal Medicine Organization concluded that Amini's death was due to cerebral hypoxia, which led to hypotension and multiple organ failure.

According to reports, Amini underwent brain surgery at the Milad Hospital in Tehran when she was eight years old.

The United States had imposed sanctions on Iran's police over allegations of abuse of Iranian women, saying it held the unit responsible for the death of Mahsa Amini in custody.

The US Treasury Department charged the police with allegedly violating the rights of what they described as peaceful protesters and announced sanctions against seven senior Iranian military and security officials, including the commander of the Iranian army's ground forces.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement that the designated senior officials, in regard to the sanctions, included the morality police's head, Mohammad Rostami Cheshmeh Gachi; the commander of the Iranian army's ground forces, Kiyumars Heidari; and Esmail Khatib, Iran's minister of intelligence.

Additionally, the Treasury issued a license expanding the provision of internet services to Iran amid the riots taking place in the country, as Tehran was being accused of imposing blackouts in the country in a bid to curb the rioting.