TEHRAN – Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei on Wednesday advised protesters in Iraq and Lebanon to prioritize restoration of security to their homeland over any other thing.

“I suggest the empathetic people in Iraq and Lebanon to prioritize restoration of security and tranquility to their countries,” the Leader said at the graduation ceremony of Army cadets at Khatam al-Anbia Air Defense Academy in Tehran.

He further said that righteous demands of the people in Iraq and Lebanon can only be materialized within legal frameworks. 

Ayatollah Khamenei called on officials, elites and all walks of the life in the two countries to keep vigilance against enemies’ plots, emphasizing that insightfulness is the only way to counter the conspiracies.

“If a society lack security there will not be any chance for fulfilment of cultural, economic, research and scientific activities, therefor, maintaining security is an extra-ordinary valuable duty which must be remarkably admired,” the Leader remarked. 

Touching upon the enemies’ plan to spread unrest in some regional countries, Ayatollah Khamenei said, “The organizers of these evil acts have been identified. The U.S. and Western spy services along with financial support of some reactionary countries in the region are behind these incidents (in Iraq and Lebanon).” 

“The enemies had resorted to such a plot against our country too, but fortunately our nation came to the scene in time and wisely, in the meantime, the country’s armed forces were well prepared and foiled that plot,” the Leader pointed out. 

Iraq and Lebanon have been the scene of protests in recent days.

At the start of October, street protests erupted in several Iraqi cities over unemployment and a lack of basic services.

The protests resumed on Friday after a pause of about two weeks. The gatherings have turned violent at some points over the past days, with conflicting unofficial reports of fatalities.

In Lebanon, the protests first began on October 17, hitting Lebanon at a time of worsening financial crisis — banks were closed for a 10th day on Tuesday along with schools and businesses.

Hossein Amir Abdollahian, a senior foreign policy advisor to the Iranian parliament speaker, has blamed the United States and Saudi Arabia for the recent unrest in Lebanon and Iraq, saying the two countries’ “political terrorism” will end in failure.

“Yesterday in Yemen, the U.S. and Saudi Arabia forced the prime minister to resign and created a government-less state which led to their failure and they are now stuck in Yemen’s quagmire,” Amir Abdollahian said in his Instagram account on Tuesday night. “Today, they are creating a government-less state and unrest in Iraq and Lebanon.”

Earlier this month, a senior member of the Iranian Parliament National Security and Foreign Policy Committee said that joint plots orchestrated by Washington and Riyadh were root causes of the recent riots in Iraq.
 
Ala’eddin Boroujerdi said that Riyadh tried to push Iraq into anarchy on the threshold of the Arbaeen march to cover Saudi forces’ disgusting failures in Yemen.

“Recent developments in Iraq are definitely a result of provocations manufactured out of Iraq in which the U.S. played a pivotal role,” he underscored.

MJ/PA