On Monday, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, blamed the US and Israel for the anti-government protests that have engulfed the nation for more than two weeks.
“I say explicitly that these riots and this insecurity were a design by the US and the occupying, fake Zionist regime [Israel] and those who are paid by them, and some traitorous Iranians abroad helped them.”
– Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of Iran
The 83-year-old leader initially remained silent on the protests, which broke out following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of Iran’s morality police last month.
Now, Khamenei claims that the unrest is an attempt to halt the country’s progress, after the US imposed harsh sanctions when they pulled out of Iran’s 2015 nuclear agreement in 2018.
