A UK-based activist group says that clashes between protesters and security forces since September 30 in the city of Zahedan have left at least 95 dead, including children.
An Iranian human rights organisation said security forces were shooting at the protesters and using tear gas in two predominantly Kurdish-populated cities.
State TV said the two French citizens had entered Iran with "chunks of money ... which was meant to fund strikes and demonstrations".
Both were convicted of espionage in October 2016 and sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Iran’s intelligence ministry said, “Nine foreign nationals from Germany, Poland, Italy, France, the Netherlands, Sweden and other countries were arrested at or behind the scene of riots.”
Authorities warn filmmakers, athletes, musicians and actors, who have backed demonstrations against the custodial death of Mahsa Amini, against fanning the "flames of the riots."
Iranian officials say they have made over 1,200 arrests — including activists, lawyers and journalists — while Fars news agency says "around 60" people have been killed in the unrest.
The death of Mahsa Amini has sparked the first big show of opposition on Iran's streets since authorities crushed protests against a rise in gasoline prices in 2019.
Officers in full anti-riot armour, backed by a line of vans blocked the path of the protesters as they sought to approach the Iranian embassy
Iran has been rocked by violence since the death last week of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who had spent three days in a coma after being detained by the morality police.
Iranians have staged nationwide demonstrations over the case of Mahsa Amini, 22, who died last week after being arrested by the morality police for wearing "unsuitable attire".
Iran blocks access to Instagram and WhatsApp and imposes restrictions on the internet as the death toll from days-long demonstrations rises to 17, with security personnel among those killed.
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