A top Revolutionary Guard commander says anti-government unrest in Iran persists because there are protesters who have been “deceived”, presumably by foreigners.

Deputy commander of the Guards Ali Fadavi said Monday that the IRGC tried to appease and put up with those who were deceived and joined the protests, and that is the reason why the unrest has not ended, otherwise “it would not have lasted more than six days.”

Fadavi also claimed that sixty government agents have been killed during the suppression of protests that began in September following the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody. Some believe fewer government agents have been killed and the IRGC uses the identity of dead protesters as its own “martyrs”.

Once again linking the nationwide protests to foreign conspiracies, he said, “We were dealing with deceived people inside the country, and we put up with them.”

“Deceived” is a term that Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, has used many times to describe the people, especially the young protestors in the streets, emphasizing that the unrest is staged by “foreign enemies.”

Other officials have been repeating Khamenei’s allegations that foreign countries and conspiracies were behind fomenting the protests.

Fadavi, however, did not mention the killing of more than 400 protestors, including children, by government forces, including almost 50 children.