Iran prosecutor vows 'decisive' response against protesters as Mossad instigates unrest
Tehran’s prosecutor-general says peaceful protests are legitimate but warns against attempts to incite insecurity, while Israeli intelligence publicly encourages demonstrators.
Iran's prosecutor-general said on Wednesday that economic protests that had gripped the country were legitimate, but any attempt to create insecurity would be met with a "decisive response".
"Peaceful livelihood protests are part of social and understandable realities," Mohammad Movahedi-Azad told state media.
"Any attempt to turn economic protests into a tool of insecurity, destruction of public property, or implementation of externally designed scenarios will inevitably be met with a legal, proportionate and decisive response."
Israel's Mossad spy agency, meanwhile, issued a direct call urging Iranians to press on with protests, saying it was supporting them "on the ground" as demonstrations spread in capital Tehran and other Iranian cities.
"Go out into the streets together. The time has come. We are with you," Mossad wrote in a post on its Farsi-language X account, Israel's army radio reported on Wednesday.
"Not just from a distance or through words. We are also with you on the ground."
Protests that began on Sunday with Tehran shopkeepers rallying against Iran's worsening economy have spread to other cities, drawing in students as well.
The Iranian rial has dropped against the US dollar and other world currencies, forcing up import prices and hurting retail traders.
The appeal also came after talks this week between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump, following which Trump warned Iran of fresh strikes if it rebuilt its nuclear or ballistic missile programmes.
Iran and Israel fought a 12-day war earlier this year, after Israel launched a wave of strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities as well as residential areas, saying it aimed to cripple the Iranian atomic research and ballistic missile capabilities.
Iran responded with drone and missile attacks on Israel. Later in the conflict, the United States joined Israel in briefly targeting Iranian nuclear sites before a ceasefire was declared.
Iran, which does not recognise Israel, has long accused it of conducting sabotage operations against its nuclear facilities and assassinating its scientists.