The people of Iran have a right to protest, unlike terrorists brought in from abroad, Masoud Pezeshkian has said
The US and Israel are meddling in the unrest shaking Iran, the country’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said in a televised interview on Sunday. He accused Washington and West Jerusalem of egging on “foreign terrorists” embedded among the protesters.
Deadly upheaval erupted in the sanctioned country late last month, sparked by hyperinflation and a worsening economic crisis. The government is attempting to address the public’s concerns “any way possible,” Pezeshkian told state broadcaster IRIB.
The “chaos” is being escalated by “rioters and terrorists,” rather than Iranians with legitimate grievances, he said.
“The enemy… is training terrorists inside the country and abroad, bringing terrorists into the country… They set fire to mosques, bazaars, and guilds,” Pezeshkian said, accusing them of deadly violence.
Pezeshkian accused the US and Israel of riling up the protesters, and called on Iranians not to let young people get mixed in with “rioters and terrorists.”
Violent clashes between the protesters and the authorities have led to dozens of deaths among the Iranian security forces and civilian bystanders, Iran’s PressTV reported on Sunday. Multiple mosques, medical centers, and other buildings have reportedly been torched across the country.
READ MORE: Iran shuts down internet amid protest groundswell – monitoring group
Rioters can be seen beating and burning police officers to death in a graphic clip shared by Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Sunday.
In a security camera video published by PressTV, a Molotov cocktail can be seen being thrown into a mosque where children are playing.
A nationwide internet blackout was imposed in Iran on Thursday, which was still in effect as of the time of writing.
The demonstrations were openly encouraged by a Farsi-language social media account associated with Israel’s Mossad, which claimed that it had agents embedded within the crowds.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly said that he is ready to intervene directly.
“The USA stands ready to help!!!” he wrote on Truth Social on Saturday.
Last summer, the US joined an Israeli attack on several of the Islamic Republic’s biggest nuclear sites after accusing it of pursuing a nuclear weapon – allegations that Tehran denied, insisting that its program is purely peaceful.
