BEIRUT: Iran has foiled attempts by its foreign enemies to turn legitimate protests into an insurgency to overthrow the Islamic Republic, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said .
Comments on his Twitter feed and in Iranian media underscored the establishment’s confidence that it has extinguished the unrest that spread to more than 80 cities in which at least 22 people died since late December.
“Once again, the nation tells the US, Britain, and those who seek to overthrow the Islamic Republic of Iran from abroad that ‘you’ve failed, and you will fail in the future, too.’” Khamenei tweeted.
All moves against us, by the enemy, over the past 40 years are attacks on the Islamic Revolution. The Revolution politically eradicated the enemy from Iran.
The Revolutionary Guards, the military force loyal to Khamenei, said on Sunday security forces had put an end to the unrest that it too said had been whipped up by foreign enemies.
At least 1,000 people have been arrested in the biggest anti-government protests for nearly a decade, with the judiciary saying ringleaders could face the death penalty.
A judiciary official announced on Tuesday that a detainee in Arak, a town approximately 200 km south of Tehran, had died after committing suicide, according to Mizan, the website of the Iranian judiciary.
