IRGC Chief Says Israel, Saudi Arabia Ganged Up With West Against Iran

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The United States and other Western countries have ganged up with Israel and Saudi Arabia against Iran, Lt. Gen. Hossein Salami, commander in chief of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), said on Thursday.

"Some [persons] inside the country have become an echo of the enemy's voice in order to organize a big turmoil against Iran. All Western countries have united against Iran," Salami said, as quoted by Iranian news agency Tasnim, going on to specify that "the US, the UK, France, Germany, Israel and Saudi Arabia have united in a war against Islam and the soldiers who fell in its name."

Iran believes that the US and other Western countries are supporting and fueling mass protests continuing in the Middle Eastern country for over two months due to the death of a young Iranian woman in police custody.

Mahsa Amini, 22, was detained by the controversial "morality police" in Tehran on September 13 for not covering her head properly, an offense punishable by prison. She was sent to one of the centers belonging to the police department and military intelligence for an explanatory conversation. In the center, Amini reportedly had a heart attack, after which she was immediately taken to hospital where the young woman died a few days later.

Many Iranian citizens have accused the police of Amini's death, alleging that officers hit her in the head. Iranian women started publishing videos on social media of them cutting their hair and burning hijabs and rusari kerchiefs, which they are obligated to wear on their heads.