Iran has accused the US and Israel of organizing the largest protests in the republic's history

After two weeks of protests in Iran, the country's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi announced that security forces have established "full control" over Iran. Tehran possesses "a lot of evidence showing US and Israeli interference [in the Iranian protests]," the Iranian official added, Bloomberg reported.

Israel and the U.S. are involved in fomenting large-scale protests in Iran that have left hundreds dead, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi announced on Iranian state television. He followed the local government in calling the protesters "rioters and terrorists" and said, "We [Tehran] have a lot of evidence showing US and Israeli interference in this terrorist war." "Israel is directly responsible [for organizing the protests in Iran] as well as the US with its statements inciting violence," Araqchi added.

The Internet is still down in Iran, Bloomberg writes. Araqchi said access should be restored "very soon." On Sunday night, Jan. 11, Iranian state television said "calm had been restored throughout the country" and noted that government rallies were planned in Tehran and other cities across the country to celebrate "national unity" and condemn recent "terrorist attacks."

Araqchi made statements about the involvement of the United States and Israel in the protests in Iran amid reports that US President Donald Trump is considering various options to pressure Tehran to help participants in anti-government rallies in Iran, The Wall Street Journal reported on January 11, citing sources. "We are considering this issue very seriously. The military is studying it, and we are considering several very serious options," Trump confirmed these data to journalists on board the presidential plane on his return to Washington from Mar-a-Lago, Bloomberg writes.

Araqchi, commenting on the data, remarked only that Iran is "ready for negotiations based on mutual respect and national interests."

Protests in Iran began on December 28 last year after the collapse of the national currency. They turned into the largest-scale confrontation with the government of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Iran and in general - in the history of the Islamic Republic since its establishment after the revolution of 1979, notes Bloomberg. According to the Human Rights Activist News Agency, during two weeks of protests in Iran, more than 540 people were killed, more than 10 thousand more were arrested. Before that, large-scale anti-government actions in Iran were held in 2022.

Against the backdrop of increasing geopolitical uncertainty, the price of gold on January 12 exceeded the $4600 per ounce mark for the first time in history, while silver reached a record high of $84.58 per ounce.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor