TEHRAN (Iran News) — Iranian Deputy Parliament Speaker Masoud Pezeshkian on Monday urged authorities to show tolerance toward the people, noting violence should be avoided in dealing with protestors.

“The authorities should treat people with tolerance and patience; they should not treat them with violence and should avoid treating them autocratically and tyrannically,” Pezeshkian told an open session of the parliament.

“The authorities should not say ‘we command and others must follow,’” he said, Mehr reported.

He stated that authoritative behavior by officials would blemish the religion, darken hearts and bring about hasty revolutions and transformations.

“We, the authorities, should not treat people in a way that would drive them away from us,” he added.

Widespread protests erupted in Iran in November 2019 after the government announced an increase in the price of gasoline, a subsidized commodity that is still cheaper in Iran than other countries in the world.

Protests turned violent in some cases. A number of banks and government buildings were set ablaze.

Soon after the protests erupted, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei supported the government’s decision, putting an end to doubts and possible moves to reverse the decision.

Ayatollah Khamenei urged the authorities to take good care of the affected people and assuage the hardship caused by the move.

He also called on the people to take note of the enemies’ plots to disrupt security and take a separate path from the rebels that try to foment insecurity in the country.

The protests came a year and a half after U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the historic Iran nuclear agreement, which was struck between Iran and six world powers. The nuclear deal was reached during the administration of Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama.

Following the withdrawal, the U.S. adopted a “maximum pressure” policy against Iran, which has taken its toll on Iran’s economy, namely the country’s oil exports as well as its currency which plunged afterward.

Meanwhile, Pezeshkian said in his speech that Iran is faced with an “all-out economic war” imposed by the U.S. and “they are standing with all their might to bring us to our knees.”

If the Iranian people get actively involved “America cannot do a damn thing against us”, he said.