TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei praises a “massive movement of the people against the plots of the enemies,” accusing the United States and Israel of inciting anti-government demonstrations.
Pro-government rallies have been held across the country since late December, according to Iranian state media, following several days of opposition protests which sparked violence that left 21 dead.
Such a “popular mobilization against the enemy’s plots targeting the regime… doesn’t exist anywhere (else) in the world,” Khamenei says in a speech broadcast by Iranian media.
He accuses the United States and “the Zionists” of spending months preparing demonstrations in small towns in the hope that they would spread to the capital.
“This will not go unanswered,” he says.
The anti-government demonstrations were the biggest such movement in the tightly controlled country since protests over a disputed election in 2009.
— AFP
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