• Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said violent protests were planned by Israel and US
  • He said they are a plot to destabilise Iran as he tried to quell unrest
  • Protests were sparked by death of Mahsa Amini, 22, in police custody 

Iran has accused the US and Israel for planning the violent protests that have gripped the nation after a woman was killed in custody after being arrested by the ‘morality police’ for not wearing her hijab correctly.

The unrest is flaring up across the country for a third week despite government efforts to crack down on the riots.

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei responded publicly today to the biggest protests in Iran in years, breaking weeks of silence to blame his enemies.

Speaking to a cadre of police students in Tehran, Khamenei said he was ‘heartbroken’ by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody, calling it a ‘sad incident.’

However, he sharply condemned the protests as a foreign plot to destabilise Iran, echoing authorities’ previous comments.+