Despite heavy crackdown and the high number of casualties, the country-wide protests in Iran continue. In his second official reaction to the recent protests, Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran said: “We have beat the enemy back in military and political and security wars. The events of recent days were security-related. These were not people’s work.”

“All be aware; both our friends and foes. We have beat the enemy back in the military war, in the political war, and in the security war…we will decisively beat them in economic war as well,” Khamenei boasted.

The protests in Iran began after the gasoline price hike, but Ali Khamenei immediately called the protesters “thugs”.

Regarding the economic sanctions, Khamenei said: “Sanctions will be there for a while. Hoping that in a couple of years the sanctions will go away is a delusion. With our knowledge of the field, what I understand is these sanctions are here to stay, they should be, and they will be.”

“Of course, some people know some tricks and can evade the sanctions. No problem. That is very good. Well done. But the real job is to make the economy immune to sanctions. Evading the sanctions is a tactic, immunity is a strategy,” said the leader of the Islamic Republic.

Khamenei also confirmed that the country is suffering from the oil sanctions and a 35 percent budget deficit.

The popular uprisings in Iran began with economic demands but quickly targeted the Islamic Republic as a whole. Therefore, aside from brutal crackdown, the regime has blocked the Internet for the whole country and does not allow news of the treatment of protesters to get outside.