Iran on Thursday accused its-arch foe Israel and Western intelligence services of plotting to start a civil war in the Islamic Republic gripped by some of the biggest anti-government protests since the 1979 revolution.
"Various security services, Israel and some Western politicians who have made plans for civil war, destruction and the disintegration of Iran, should know that Iran is not Libya or Sudan," Hossein Amirabdollahian tweeted.
سرویس های امنیتی ، رژيم جعلی اسراییل و برخی سیاسیون غربی که برای جنگ داخلی، ویرانی و تجزیه ایران نقشه ها كشيده اند، بدانند که ایران ، لیبی و سودان نیست. امروز دشمنان ، تمامیت ایران و هویت ایرانی را هدف قرار داده اند. بصیرت مردم ، دشمن را مایوس کرده است. #ايران مقتدر
— H.Amirabdollahian امیرعبداللهیان (@Amirabdolahian) November 17, 2022
Tehran accuses Western adversaries of stoking nationwide unrest ignited by the Sept. 16 death of young Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini whom morality police had arrested for allegedly flouting the Islamic dress code.
Separate violence
Seven people were killed in the southwestern city of Izeh in what state media presented as a "terrorist attack."
In separate violence, gunmen riding a motorcycle shot several members of the security forces in the central Iranian city of Isfahan, killing two people and injuring 8 according to state TV.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, which state television blamed on "rioters."
Amini's death and the protests that followed drew international condemnation against Iran, which has struggled to suppress the unrest and has blamed foreign enemies and their local agents.
France and Britain accused Iran of threatening their nationals on Wednesday after the Islamic Republic said French intelligence agents had been arrested during anti-government protests.
The protests have turned into one of the boldest challenges to Iran's clerical leadership since the 1979 revolution.