President Rouhani’s chief of staff, Mahmoud Vaezi, and a member of parliament confirmed the reports about the massacre of protesters in Mahsharh city in November.

Vaezi claimed on Wednesday that during the protests in Mahshahr, “in a strange turn of events,” a group of armed individuals shot at the people and the police. He added that these people “had made trenches in Mahshahr and Asaluyeh and had weapons.”

Vaezi claimed that these people were at least partly responsible for the massacre in Mahshahr. He did not mention the number of killed protesters in the city or the other groups or individuals responsible for the killings.

On the other hand, MP Amir Hossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi claimed that some of the people killed in Mahshahr intended to “sabotage the country’s main energy distribution network and added: “Many people were killed in Mahshahr and we know exactly who they were.”

Implying that the shootings were justified, Hashemi said: “Don’t they know what would happen if they decide to attack the main energy lines?”

A few days ago, the governor and chief of police of Mahshahr had confirmed the massacre of protesters in the city’s everglades. Reports indicate that approximately 100 protesters were killed while seeking shelter in Mahshahr’s everglades.

Mahshahr is close to several massive petrochemical plants but is a very impoverished area in Khuzestan province.

Despite at least four confirmation by officials about the massacre of protesters in Mahshahr, no official report has been released about the number of the victims.