On 21 December, Iranian security forces shot two people involved in the mid-November attack that killed seven people in the southern Iranian city of Izeh, according to Al-Manar.

The two perpetrators were killed in a joint operation by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and the Iranian police. According to Jafar Chegueni, the prosecutor of Khuzestan province, two additional group members were arrested.

Chegueni did not give further details of the operation, nor did he clarify in which city it took place.

On the evening of 16 November, five people were killed and ten injured in an armed attack against civilians and police in a busy market in the city of Izeh.

According to Fars News Agency, two attackers with AK47 rifles opened fire on civilians and security personnel in the city’s central market before fleeing on their two motorbikes. During another incident in Izeh, some rioters set fire to the city’s seminary school.

Since the start of the protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini on 16 September, conflicting narratives and death toll reports have emerged as civilians and security personnel have either been injured or killed in the midst of the riots. Meanwhile, authorities have yet to update the numbers officially.

In recent years, Iran has been targeted by intensive propaganda efforts led by foreign-funded Farsi-language news outlets to undermine the political stability in the country.

Meanwhile, Iran’s Foreign Ministry has criticized the United States for endorsing the commander of the Mujahedin-e-Khalq Organization (MEK), a terrorist group that has killed thousands of Iranians, and for renewing its affiliation with terrorists, according to Press TV.

“The recent move of some politically-bankrupt US figures to try to ‘whitewash terrorism’ and reprehensibly sanctify the terrorist MEK ringleader and criminal mercenary of [former Iraqi dictator] Saddam, have further shown the bogus image of US human rights,” Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kan’ani wrote in a tweet.

The MEK has a violent history of killing people and detonating bombs in opposition to the Iranian government. The group also supported Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Iran during the deadly eight-year-long war.