TEHRAN: An Iranian court has demanded that the United States pay an amount of $22 billion for purportedly providing support for mass protests in 2022, a judiciary spokesman said on Tuesday.

Nationwide protests broke out in September of that year following the death in custody of 22-year-old Iranian-Kurd Mahsa Amini, who had been arrested for allegedly violating the Islamic republic’s strict dress code for women.

“The traces of the United States are evident in many crimes committed in Iran, including during the sinister events of autumn 2022,” judiciary spokesman Asghar Jahangir said at a weekly conference.

“The US government has been ordered by a Tehran court to pay more than $22 billion for providing material and moral support to the 2022 rioters.”

Amini’s death triggered months of unrest, with hundreds of people, including dozens of security personnel, killed. Thousands were arrested as authorities moved to quell what they branded foreign-instigated “riots”.

Published in Dawn, December 3rd, 2025