Iranian police say 139 foreigners arrested over unrest in Yazd province

Iranian police said 139 foreign nationals have so far been arrested in the central province of Yazd for their participation in recent protests, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Tuesday, without specifying their nationalities.

Yazd, a predominantly desert province with a relatively small population above 1 million, was one of many provinces affected by nationwide protests in January.

The protests, which started in December over economic hardships and quickly turned political, were repressed in the most violent crackdown since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The official death toll stands at 3,117, although rights groups say many more people have been killed. US-based rights group HRANA has said that nearly 50,000 people have so far been arrested.

Authorities blame Israel and the United States for fomenting the violence.

"These (foreign) individuals played an active role in organising, inciting, and directing riotous actions, and in some cases were in contact with networks abroad," Yazd's police commander Ahmad Negahban was quoted as saying by Tasnim.

Judicial authorities have warned of severe consequences for unrest-linked detainees who committed violent acts.

"Those who played a role in this American sedition and supported it will not be spared," Iran's judiciary spokesperson Asghar Jahangir said on Tuesday.

Iranian media reported on Monday the arrest of four foreigners in Tehran over last month's unrest, a shift from earlier reports announcing daily arrests of suspected protest ringleaders without pointing to foreign nationals.

Following a 12-day war in June in which Israel relied on agents within Iran for its early offensive, Tehran accelerated a campaign to deport mainly Afghan nationals, who represent the largest foreign community in the country.