Iran accuses Israel and Western intelligence services of planning civil war in Iran

Iran's foreign minister on Thursday accused Israel and Western intelligence services of planning to divide the country gripped by anti-government protests and start a civil war, a day after seven people were killed in the southwestern city of Izeh in what state media presented as a "terrorist attack".

"Various security services, Israel and some Western politicians who have made plans for civil war, destruction and the disintegration of Iran, should know that Iran is not Libya or Sudan," Hossein Amirabdollahian tweeted, adding that Iranians would not fall for such plans. Tehran accuses Western adversaries of stoking nationwide unrest ignited by the Sept. 16 death of young Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini whom morality police had arrested for allegedly flouting the Islamic dress code.

In separate violence on Wednesday, gunmen riding a motorcycle shot several members of the security forces in Isfahan, killing two people and injuring 8 according to state TV. France and Britain accused Iran of threatening their nationals on Wednesday after the Islamic Republic said French intelligence agents had been arrested during anti-government protests.

The protests have turned into one of the boldest challenges to Iran's clerical leadership since the 1979 revolution.

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