TEHRAN- Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has praised the Iranian people for their resilience and benevolence during the recent riots, which followed the death of a young woman in a police custody.

He asserted that enemies harbor resentment against the Iranian nation because of the astounding advancements it has been able to make in a number of areas.

“Iran's enemies were seeking to cause trouble for the country in the recent riots, but as in the past, the [Iranian] people have routed them with patience and resistance,” Raisi said during a meeting with Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah, other Iranian officials and foreign figures attending the 36th International Islamic Unity Conference in Tehran on Friday.

Protests over the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman, initially broke out in her home province of Kurdistan before spreading to some other cities, including the capital Tehran. 

Amini fainted while in police custody on September 13. She had been taken to police station to be trained on Islamic dress code along with some others. She was declared dead three days later at the private-run Kasra hospital in northern Tehran.

Raisi ordered a thorough inquiry into the incident almost afterwards, but the demonstrations quickly became violent, with rioters killing police officers and trashing public property in many towns.

The Western media and Persian-language news networks continue to incite riots in Iran, which have resulted in the deaths of scores of security personnel as well as common citizens.

In a meeting with members of the Expediency Council on Wednesday, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the recent sporadic protests in certain cities were orchestrated by adversaries as a "clumsy," "foolish," and "passive" response to the Iranian nation's tremendous moves and inventive progress.

Referring to the United States and other Western countries, the Leader said, "The Iranian nation took big movements in a short period of time, which were 180 degrees opposite to the global arrogance's policies, and they were compelled to react."

Modern ignorance

Elsewhere in his remarks, President Raisi hailed the Iranian people for their earnest collaboration with the government, particularly in the implementation of economic reforms, and cited Iran's scientific advancement, economic development, reduction in inflation rate, and increase in commercial and international cooperation.

The president called for efforts to reinforce Islamic unity and avoid division and warned of schemes by ill-wishers of the Muslim world to conceal reality and promote "modern ignorance".