Iran vows 'decisive action' on wave of women-led protests

Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi has vowed "decisive action" against the wave of unrest that has rocked the country since the death of young Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini in the custody of the morality police.

At least 41 people have died, mostly protesters but including members of the Islamic republic's security forces, according to an official toll, although human rights groups say the real figure is far higher.

Hundreds of demonstrators have been arrested since the mostly night-time demonstrations and street clashes broke out after Amini's death on September 16 and then spread to scores of cities.

Security forces have fired live rounds and bird shot, rights groups charge, while protesters have hurled rocks.

Also huge crowds of people have taken to the streets in the Iranian capital Tehran to denounce acts of vandalism and desecration of Islamic sanctities by rioters over the past week following the death of a young Iranian woman after she was taken into a police station.

The protesters carried placards and chanted slogans to strongly condemn the evil acts committed by a handful of mercenaries serving foreign enemies, who set fire to the Holy Qur’an, mosques, and the national flags and forcefully removed women’s headscarves on the streets.

Protesters in Tehran carried national flags and placards, chanting slogans against the foreign-backed rioters, the United States and Israel, as well as Mujahedin-e-Khalq Organization anti-Iran terrorist group.