Iran’s Khamenei accuses Israel and the US

• Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused Israel and the United States.
• They attempt to halt Iran’s “development.”
• Furthermore, they are responsible for the demonstrations engulfing the nation.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran, has accused Israel and the United States of attempting to halt Iran’s “development” and is to responsible for the demonstrations that have engulfed the nation for more than two weeks.

The largest anti-government demonstrations the nation has witnessed in years were dubbed “riots” by Khamenei on Monday.

The 83-year-old leader had said nothing about the demonstrations that broke out after Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, passed away last month while being held by Iran’s morality police.

Khamenei told graduating cadets at a police university in Tehran, “I declare openly that these riots and this insecurity were a plot by the US and the occupying, fake Zionist regime [Israel] and those who are paid by them, and some disloyal Iranians overseas helped them.”

“Reactions to her death before investigations [take place]… hurt us, but the accident that happened resulted in the loss of a young woman,” Khamenei made the statement while being flanked by the heads of the police, army, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. “When some come to make the streets unsafe, burn Qurans, rip hijabs off veiled women, and burn mosques and people’s automobiles – they’re not a normal, natural reaction,” he added (IRGC).

By claiming that another “excuse” for the disturbance would have been discovered if not for Amini’s passing, Khamenei attempted to further paint the uprising as a component of a foreign campaign to destabilize Iran.

Iran’s supreme leader claimed that the disturbance was an attempt to halt the country from making progress despite severe US sanctions put in place since Washington unilaterally pulled out of Iran’s 2015 nuclear agreement with world powers in 2018.

According to Khamenei, “they feel that the nation is moving into full-scale power and they can’t tolerate this.”

According to reports, the US is mulling more penalties against Iran in light of the demonstrations, which have claimed the lives of several people. In an effort to assist Iranians in getting through government internet restrictions put in place since the protests started, some internet sanctions against Iran have been relaxed.

Ethnic conflict

Khamenei made reference to discontent among Iran’s ethnic Baluch and Kurdish minorities in his speech, but he asserted that Iran would not be divided along ethnic lines.

According to Khamenei, who has lived among ethnic Baluchis, they have a strong loyalty to the Islamic Republic. The ethnic Kurds in Iran are also among the most developed peoples, and they cherish their nation, Islam, and the status quo.

The IRGC has been relentlessly attacking what it claims are “terrorist” organization bases in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, northwest of Iran, for more than a week. The protests have been characterized by the government as having secessionist objectives.

At least 13 individuals were killed in an IRGC strike on northern Iraq on September 28 using missiles and drones.

At least 20 individuals were killed in a fatal shootout last week in the city of Zahedan in the Sistan and Baluchistan region to the southeast.

Authorities said that the gunfight followed an attack by members of a secessionist “terrorist” group that resulted in the deaths of many IRGC and Basij paramilitary personnel.

The hijab has become one of the primary topics of the protests as several female protestors have been seen burning their hijabs or cutting their hair.

Khamenei claimed that despite this, the hijab is not the main problem.

Many of the individuals who don’t wear a full hijab are ardent supporters of the Islamic Republic and take part in numerous activities. The issue is Iran’s ability to remain independent, strong, and powerful, according to the supreme leader.

Regarding the protesters themselves, Khamenei characterized many of them as being foolish and stated, without further explanation, that by being “punished,” they could be made to see that they had committed a “error.”

Leading athletes and artists’ statements in favor of the protests caught Khamenei’s attention as well. The Iranian supreme leader claimed that those who spoke out only made up a small portion of Iran’s sporting and cultural sector.

Last week, police detained at least two football players and a singer who supported the protests.

One of the biggest football clubs in Iran, Persepolis FC, was “summoned to a security body” on Monday, according to local media, to address its players’ online involvement with the protests.

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