FNA - Spokesman of Iran's Law Enforcement Police Brigadier General Ahmad Nourian announced that two police officers have been martyred by rioters during the recent violence after peaceful protests against state plan for gasoline price hike.

"A number of police forces were wounded and two others were martyred in the recent incidents," General Nourian said on Wednesday.

He wished peace and blessing for these martyrs as well as those members of Iran's Basij (volunteer) forces who have also been martyred by the rioters.

General Nourian explained that the most sensitive part of the police missions in the recent unrests has been discerning ordinary citizens who attended peaceful protest rallies to protect them and the outlaws who were trying to turn the protests violent.

He added that identification of the main culprits behind the recent riots who had ties with certain foreign states was the most important part of the police's mission in cooperation with Basij forces, noting that a large number of outlaws and rioters have been identified and arrested.

A senior Iranian security official said on Tuesday that thugs arrested during the recent riots confessed that they received $60 for each place set on fire.

"One such instance pertains to a number of thugs arrested in one of the provinces who were given an advance payment of 300,000 tomans (nearly $30) to stage an arson attack and another 300,000 tomans once they did the mission," Commander of Hamedan province's Law Enforcement Police Brigadier General Bakhsh Ali Kamrani Saleh said.

He underlined the necessity for increasing vigilance so that people's righteous demands will not be misused by the rioters.

Iran's Judiciary Spokesman Gholam Hossein Esmayeeli announced on Tuesday that calm had been restored to the country after the recent riots that started following the government's gas price hike plan.

"Thanks to the Leader's remarks, efforts by the security and Law Enforcement Police forces and people's vigilance who separated their way from the ill-wishers and violence-seekers, calm has been restored in the country," Esmayeeli told reporters in Tehran.

"A large number of saboteurs and rioters and those who set fire at public properties and played a role in the destructions have been identified," he added.

Riots by a small number who had taken advantage of legitimate public protests against the government's gas price hike plan in Iran were directed at sowing chaos through targeted attacks on public and private properties, forcing law enforcement to step in to stop saboteurs.

Early estimates of an intelligence body showed that a sum of nearly 87,000 protesters and rioters had taken part in protest rallies and gatherings since Friday night, mostly (over 93%) men. A large number of protesters had only been present in the gathering centers and avoided joining the rioters in sabotage attacks on public and private properties.

"The identical methods of the main core of violent rioters discloses that they are fully trained individuals who have been prepared and looking forward for the situation to rise, unlike most people who have been taken off guard by the sudden hike in gas price," the report said.

The report showed that gatherings have been comprised of 50 to 1,500 people held in 100 regions of the country out of a number of 1,080 major towns and cities. The report says violent raids and damage inflicted on properties has been larger than what happened in February 2018 unrests.

Most cases of damage to properties had happened in Khuzestan, Tehran, Fars and Kerman provinces. The report says most casualties have resulted from armed outlaws' attacks on oil storage and military centers, adding that a number of police and popular forces have been martyred in these attacks.

Nearly 1,000 people were arrested across the country while over 100 banks and 57 big stores were set on fire or plundered in just one province.

The Iranian intelligence ministry announced in a statement on Sunday that it had identified several rioters who misused the recent protest rallies against the gasoline price hikes to destroy public and private properties.

"The main culprits behind the riots in the past two days have been identified and proper measures are being adopted and the honorable nation will be informed about its result later," the statement said.