TEHRAN – Iran called for calm on Sunday after protests in a southern cityover water shortages turned violent overnight with reports of policeshooting at demonstrators who attacked banks and public buildings.

“No one has been killed in the unrest and just one person has been woundedin a shooting,” said Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli onSunday, as reported by the state news agency IRNA.

“Our effort is to bring these protests to an end as soon as possible withrestraint from police and the cooperation of authorities, but if theopposite happens, the judiciary and law enforcement forces will carry outtheir duties,” Rahmani Fazli was quoted as saying.

Shots could be heard on videos circulated on social media from the protestsin Khorramshahr, which has been the scene of demonstrations for the pastthree days, along with the nearby city of Abadan. The videos could not beauthenticated by Reuters.

State television showed banks with broken windows and footage appearing toshows an identified demonstrator armed with a rifle.

Police fired tear gas as protesters set fire to a bridge, and to a gardensurrounding a museum which is a memorial to the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s,state media said.

A number of protests have broken out in Iran since the beginning of theyear over water, a growing political concern due to a drought whichresidents of parched areas and analysts say has been exacerbated bymismanagement.

Oil-rich southwestern Khuzestan province, where Khorramshahr is located, isthe home of many members of Iran’s ethnic Arab minority, who have longcomplained of alleged discrimination and tight control by security forces.

Speaking before the clashes, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameneisaid on Saturday that the United States was acting together with SunniMuslim Gulf Arab states that regard Shi’ite Muslim Iran as their mainregional foe in trying to destabilize the government in Tehran.

“If America was able to act against Iran, it would not need to formcoalitions with notorious and reactionary states in the region and asktheir help in fomenting unrest and instability,” Khamenei told graduatingRevolutionary Guards officers, in remarks carried by state TV.