Iran accuses Israel and Western intelligence services of plotting an Iranian civil war.
Tehran accuses Western adversaries of fueling national unrest, which has been joined by Iranians from all walks of life since the death on September 16 of the young Iranian Kurdish woman.
DUBAI (Reuters) Iran on Thursday accused rival Israel and Western intelligence services of conspiring to start a civil war in the Islamic Republic, which is now gripped by some of the largest anti-government protests since the 1979 revolution.
"Various security services, Israel, and some Western politicians who have been making plans for civil war, destruction, and the disintegration of Iran should know that Iran is not Libya or Sudan," tweeted Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian.
Tehran accuses Western adversaries of fueling national unrest, which has been joined by Iranians from all walks of life since the death on September 16 of young Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini. She died while in custody after morality police arrested her for allegedly violating the Islamic dress code.
Iran was hit by a series of attacks on Wednesday.
Seven people were killed in the city of Izeh, in the southwest of the country, in what state media described as a "terrorist attack".
In a separate incident of violence, gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire on several members of the security forces in the central city of Isfahan, killing two people and wounding eight, according to state television.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, which state television attributed to "rioters".
Amini's death and the ensuing protests drew international condemnation from Iran's clerical leadership, which sought to quell the unrest and blamed foreign enemies and their alleged local agents.
Five people arrested during the protests have been sentenced to death, according to the judicial news agency Mizan.
Amnesty International, in a Twitter post, said that Iranian authorities are seeking the death penalty for at least 21 people "in sham trials designed to intimidate participants in the popular uprising that has shaken Iran since September and prevent others from joining the movement."
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