A fact-finding team is to be sent to Iran’s southwestern province of Khuzestan, to probe the reasons for the riots which occurred there over the weekend, report Iranian news agencies.
It was reported that at least three people were killed and dozens were wounded during the riots, and hundreds were arrested by police forces.
The events were sparked last Friday, by rumors that Tehran planned to decrease the proportion of Arabs in the oil-rich province near the Iraqi border. The rumors began following the distribution of a copy of a letter allegedly signed by former Vice President Muhammad ‘Ali Abtahi. The letter was circulated in Khuzestan’s capital Ahvaz as well as in other cities in the province. The letter, which Abtahi denied writing, describes a plan to relocate non-Arabs to Ahvaz to make them the majority population there.
Iranians of Arab descent make up about three percent – approximately two million people – of the total population of the Islamic republic, with the majority of them located in Khuzestan.
Iranian government spokesman ‘Abdallah Ramezanzadeh said on Sunday that the letter was forged and aimed at provoking ethnic tensions.
“President Muhammad Khatami had ordered the Intelligence Ministry and the Supreme National Security Council to identify those behind the unrest,” Ramezanzadeh said.
Iranian officials added that besides the dispatch of the fact-finding team, the ministers of information and interior have been assigned to investigate the causes of disturbances in Ahvaz.
According to Ramezanzadeh, “Due to the special investigations carried out by the presidential office, it has become clear there exists no letter with such content. Furthermore, the content of the letter does not comply with any political principles of the Islamic Republic and it is merely aimed at inciting Iranian ethnic groups,” he added.