{"id":267433,"date":"2026-01-31T17:28:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T17:28:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/267433\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T17:28:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T17:28:09","slug":"pezeshkian-blames-west-israel-for-exploiting-irans-protests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/267433\/","title":{"rendered":"Pezeshkian Blames West, Israel for Exploiting Iran\u2019s Protests"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Tehran (TDI): Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Saturday accused the United States, Israel and European countries of exploiting Iran\u2019s economic difficulties and fueling unrest during recent nationwide protests, alleging foreign actors sought to destabilise the country.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking in a live broadcast on state television, Pezeshkian said Western and Israeli leaders had \u201cprovoked division, supplied resources and drawn some innocent people into the movement\u201d with the aim of \u201ctearing the nation apart.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The protests, which began in late December and lasted around two weeks, were triggered by an economic crisis marked by soaring inflation and rising living costs. They have largely subsided following a harsh crackdown by Iran\u2019s clerical authorities.<\/p>\n<p>US-based human rights group HRANA said at least 6,563 people were killed during the unrest, including 6,170 protesters and 214 members of the security forces. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, however, told CNN Turk that 3,100 people were killed, including around 2,000 security personnel.<\/p>\n<p>Read More:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/thediplomaticinsight.com\/trump-deadline-iran-enter-nuclear-talks\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Trump Signals Deadline for Iran to Enter Nuclear Talks<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Pezeshkian said US President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and European leaders had \u201cridden on our problems\u201d and were seeking to fragment Iranian society.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey brought people into the streets to sow conflict, hatred and division,\u201d he said, adding that the unrest was \u201cnot just a social protest.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Trump has repeatedly voiced support for the demonstrators, warning that Washington was prepared to take action if Iran continued to kill protesters. US officials said on Friday that Trump was reviewing his options but had not yet decided whether to launch military action against Iran.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Israel\u2019s Ynet news website reported that a US Navy destroyer had docked at the Israeli port of Eilat, amid rising regional tensions.<\/p>\n<p>Iran\u2019s regional allies, including Turkiye, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, have intensified diplomatic efforts in recent days to prevent a military confrontation between Washington and Tehran.<\/p>\n<p>Read More:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/thediplomaticinsight.com\/iran-firm-missiles-turkiye-defuse-us-tensions\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Iran Stands Firm on Missiles as Turkiye Tries to Defuse US Tensions<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The United States has demanded that Iran curb its missile program as a condition for resuming talks, a demand Tehran has firmly rejected. Speaking in Turkey earlier this week, Araqchi said Iran\u2019s missile capabilities would \u201cnever be subject to negotiations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Responding to US threats, Araqchi said Iran was prepared for both diplomacy and conflict, while remaining open to dialogue with regional countries to promote stability.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/TDI-Kit-logo-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-150x150 size-150x150 wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" itemprop=\"image\"   title=\"News Desk 1\"\/>\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tehran (TDI): Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Saturday accused the United States, Israel and European countries of exploiting&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":267434,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-267433","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267433\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/267434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}