TEHRAN – The Iranian ambassador to London, in a series of tweets, has vehemently dismissed a report by Reuters that claimed about 1,500 people were killed in the November unrest in Iran, saying that Reuters has been pursuing a policy of lies against Iran.

“The country’s officials will announce the precise death toll in the recent unrest, which will be much less than what has been announced by foreign media. The professional duty of the media makes it essential to avoid releasing fake news until the time the official news about the death toll is announced,” Hamid Baeidinejad tweeted on Tuesday.

“Reuters was part of the Thomson Reuters Corporation and was sold to a Zionist Canadian. Unfortunately, it has been following a biased policy based on lies against Iran,” Baeidinejad said in another tweet.

In another tweet, the ambassador noted that Reuters’ policy is just based on supporting the Zionist regime of Israel.

In a report on Monday, Reuters claimed that about 1,500 people were killed during less than two weeks of unrest across Iran that started on November 15.

“The toll, provided to Reuters by three Iranian Interior Ministry officials, included at least 17 teenagers and about 400 women as well as some members of the security forces and police,” the London-based news outlet claimed.

The report came a month after protests erupted in some cities in Iran against increasing gasoline price. In certain cases, the protests turned violent as some rioters clashed with police, using knives and guns.

Rioters damaged public and private property and put banks and state buildings on fire.

The protests ended after a few days.

Amnesty International claimed on December 16 that at least 304 people were killed during the unrest. The number has been widely used by news media outlets despite the fact that Iran has repeatedly rejected any international estimate as “invalid”.

An official at Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) has denied Reuters’ claim.

Alireza Zarifian Yeganeh, head of the SNSC Information and Communications Secretariat, said such claims were part of the anti-Iran disinformation campaign, Mehr reported.

“Such news producing and leveling accusations is basically very easy,” he said, describing the act as a psychological operation against the Islamic Republic.

“When asked to offer sources or documents, the media outlet would refer you to invisible creatures,” he added.

Mahmoud Vaezi, the presidential chief of staff, said on Wednesday that the concerned bodies are gathering evidence about the number of the dead and rejected speculation that the establishment has adopted a policy of silence about the issue.

NA/PA