Iran’s supreme leader has finally broken his silence and blames the United States and Israel for the protests that have gripped the country for over two weeks. He has further accused these countries of hindering Iran’s “progress”.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Monday tried to cast the unrest in Iran as that of an international effort to destabilise the country, adding that Mahsa Amini’s death added to their ammunition. “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,” Khamenei said at a police university in Tehran.

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So far, the 83-year-old leader has remained silent on the protests that erupted after a 22-year-old woman – Mahsa Amini – died last month in the custody of Iran’s morality police. The leader added, “In the accident that happened, a young woman passed away, which also pained us, but reactions to her death before investigations [take place] … when some come to make the streets insecure, burn Qurans, take hijabs off covered women, and burn mosques and people’s cars – they’re not a normal, natural reaction.”

The anti-government protests are some of the biggest ‘riots’ in the country’s history. The largely women-led movement has seen frustrated women removing their hijabs in public and cutting their hair. The protests have also become fatal. News reports placed the death toll at over 90 people, with thousands already arrested or injured.

Sanctions on Iran continue

Further explaining his reason for blaming the US and Israel, Khamenei says, “they feel that the country is progressing towards full-scale power and they can’t tolerate this…”

Before the protests, the US placed heavy sanctions on Iran and is supposedly considering further sanctions. However, the US has eased some of its internet sanctions to try and aid Iranians to circumvent government restrictions on the internet since the start of the protests.

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