Iran Relies on Own People to Ensure Security

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Iran's security and stability depend on its own people, stressing that "infiltrators" will not be permitted to violate the rights of Iranians.

"Iran's security and stability depend on its own people, who —unlike the peoples of [US President Donald] Trumps regional "bffs"—have the right to vote and to protest," Zarif said in a post on his official Twitter account on Tuesday, Press TV reported.

He emphasized that the Iranian people would protect their "hard-earned rights" and would never let infiltrators "sabotage them through violence and destruction."

Since Thursday, groups of Iranian protestors have staged demonstrations in several cities to voice their anger over rising prices and economic conditions. Sporadic violence has erupted during the protests, causing a number of casualties.

Trump posted several tweets to express his support for protests in Iran. In his latest tweet on Tuesday, the US president said, "The [Iranian] people have little food, big inflation and no human rights. The US is watching!"

Zarif's tweet came after Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qasemi denounced Trump's "insulting" tweets about the recent protests in a number of Iranian cities, urging him to avoid interfering in Iran's internal affairs.

  Not New

"Trump's completely paradoxical and garbled stance against the Iranian people is not a new issue," Qasemi said on Tuesday.

Addressing a Cabinet session on Sunday, President Hassan Rouhani condemned his American counterpart's comments about the protests in Iran.

"This man who today in America wants to sympathize with our people has forgotten that a few months ago he called the Iranian nation terrorist," the Iranian president said, adding that "this person who is against the Iranian nation from head to toe has no right to feel sorry for the people of Iran."

He said that national security, peace and coherence as well as the unity that existed in Iran were the "biggest assets" of the country in the restive Middle East region, underlining that people from all faiths and ethnicities enjoyed peaceful coexistence in the Islamic Republic.