Iran accuses western countries of ‘planning civil war’ in Iran

Iran on Thursday accused rival Israeli and Western intelligence services of conspiring to start a civil war in the Islamic Republic, which is now gripped by some of the largest anti-government protests since the 1979 revolution.

Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said in a statement on his Twitter account, “The various security forces, Israel and some Western politicians who are planning civil war, destruction and fragmentation of Iran should know that Iran is not Libya or Sudan.”

Tehran accuses its Western adversaries of fueling national unrest, which has been joined by Iranians from all walks of life since the September 16 murder of young Iranian Kurdish Mahsa Amini. He died while in custody after the morality police arrested him for allegedly violating the Islamic dress code.

Iran was rocked by a series of attacks on Wednesday.

Seven people were killed in what state media described as a “terrorist attack” in the city of Izeh in the southwestern part of the country.

In separate incidents of violence, motorcycle gunmen shot several members of the security forces in central Isfahan city, killing two and injuring eight, according to state television.

No group claimed responsibility for the attacks, which state television blamed on the “rebels”.

Amini’s death and the ensuing protests sparked international condemnation by Iran’s clerical leadership, who tried to quell the unrest and blamed xenophobes and suspected local agents.

According to the judicial news agency Mizan, five people detained during the protests were sentenced to death.

In a Twitter post, Amnesty International said Iranian authorities had demanded the death penalty for at least 21 people “in fraudulent cases designed to intimidate those involved in the popular uprising that has shaken Iran since September and prevent others from joining the movement”.