ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The intelligence branch of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Monday accused 20 foreign countries of creating an “emotional atmosphere” and fueling the protests in the aftermath of Zhina (Mahsa) Amini’s death. Amini’s death while in police custody in September ignited Iran’s longest protest movement in the past four decades, initially calling for greater freedoms before turning into a revolution with calls for the overthrow of the Islamic regime. The IRGC and its paramilitary Basij led a violent crackdown against the protesters, killing hundreds of people and wounding thousands others. Tehran’s response to the demonstrations was heavily criticized by the international community. Iran interpreted the international community’s solidarity with the protesters as supporting the unrest and “riots” in the country. “Investigations by the IRGC intelligence organization show the role and participation of the intelligence services of nearly 20 countries in the riots,” Mohammad Kazemi, head of the IRGC intelligence services, told Iranian state media on Monday. Among the countries mentioned by Kazemi were the United States, the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and the Islamic republic’s arch-nemesis Israel. The intelligence head accused the French embassy of using diplomats to collect information about the protests and the security situation in Iran, and accused the intelligence services of the US, UK, and Israel of working together to “reactivate” a project of assassinating Iranian nuclear scientists. Kazemi also alleged that meetings had occurred between the UAE and Israeli intelligence services to support the protesters. Iran and Saudi Arabia announced that they were restoring diplomatic in February, seven years after they severed ties in 2016 when Iranian protestors attacked the Saudi diplomatic mission in Tehran in retaliation to the kingdom's execution of a prominent Shiite cleric. The UAE also severed ties with Iran in 2016 as a show of support with the Kingdom. The US, UK, and European Union imposed several sanctions on Tehran over its brutal crackdown on the protesters in the country.
