TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei said a tripartite plot was behind the recent violent unrest in some Iranian cities, stressing that a distinction should be made between legitimate demands of the people and acts of vandalism by a certain group.
“Clues and intelligence evidence show that these events (unrest in Iran) have been orchestrated (by enemies), and a triple party has been involved in bringing it about,” Ayatollah Khamenei said in a gathering of people of Qom, held in Tehran on Tuesday.
The Leader referred to the US and Israel as one side of the triangle that masterminded the plot and worked on it for months, saying the plot was supposed to entail unrest in small cities that would spill into the capital.
On the second side of the tripartite plot stood a Persian Gulf wealthy state which financed the ploy, the Leader said, adding that the third party included lackeys of the terrorist Mojahedin-e-Khalq Organization (MKO) that had been prepared since months ago.
Ayatollah Khamenei also pointed to two command bases the enemies had set up in the vicinity of Iran to coordinate and control the operation, saying one of the bases was tasked with handling the operation in the cyberspace, while the second one focused on directing the unrest.
“Both bases were being commanded by the Americans and Zionists,” the Leader added.
Rejecting claims that Iran is afraid of the US power, Ayatollah Khamenei made a reference to the past events and the way people kicked the US out of Iran in the 1970s and said Iran even forced the US to leave the entire region in recent years.
The Leader then hit back at the US officials for expressing concern about the events in Iran, saying Washington itself should be ashamed for US police’s killing of 800 American people over the past year.
The US government that resorted to any measure to suppress the Occupy Wall Street Uprising and killed people on any charge is in no position to voice concern for Iran, Ayatollah Khamenei added.
The US is clearly pursuing the objective of overthrowing the Islamic Republic, the Leader warned, saying unlike the previous US administrations, the current one has announced such a policy in an unabashed and overt manner.
Imam Khamenei then praised the Iranian nation for protecting the country and standing against hostile plots like a “strong dam”, citing the massive rallies held across Iran in condemnation of the riots and acts of vandalism and desecration.
The Leader finally called on Iranian officials and political activists to try to address the problems, saying correction of deficiencies would thwart the foreign propaganda campaign and prevent the US from harming the country.
In late December, peaceful protests over economic problems broke out in a number of Iranian cities, but the gatherings turned violent in some places when groups of participants, some of them armed, vandalized public property and launched attacks on police stations and government buildings.
Following the unrest, people held several demonstrations across the country to condemn the violent riots and acts of vandalism, and voice support for the Islamic Republic’s Establishment.
Security forces say many rioters arrested in the recent unrest have been trained by the MKO terrorists or had links with the Takfiri terrorist groups.