SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Saturday that “enemies” are triggering unrest in Iran in order to overthrow the Islamic Republic.
“Today, the enemies’ most important hope for striking a blow at the country is based on popular protests… But the enemies’ calculation is as wrong as many earlier ones,” Khamenei said in a televised speech, according to Reuters.
There have been weeks of unrest in Iran after a jump in food prices and amid public anger against leaders in the Islamic government and powerful clerics over a deadly building collapse last month that was widely blamed on corruption and lax safety measures.
Iran has been reeling under the effect of sanctions reimposed by the U.S. in 2018 – exacerbated by rising prices worldwide since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.
Iran has seen several waves of protests over living conditions in recent years, most notably in 2019 after a fuel price hike.
