TEHRAN: Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian says the nation should not allow rioters to cause insecurity in the country, stressing that protesting is different from rioting.

“If the people have concerns, it is our duty to resolve their concerns, but the higher duty is that we must not allow a group of rioters to come and disrupt the entire society,” Pezeshkian said in a televised interview on Sunday.

Addressing Iran’s youth, Pezeshkian told them “not to be deceived by these rioters and terrorists” as he pleaded with Iranian families not to let their children join the “rioters and terrorists.”

“These people are trained,” he warned.

The enemies of the Iranian people have trained a group of people both inside and outside the country to destroy public and private properties and kill citizens, he said.

“The enemy has infiltrated trained terrorists into the country. Rioters and saboteurs are not the protesting people. We listen to the protestors and have made our utmost efforts to solve their problems,” Pezeshkian said.

The president reiterated that the United States and Israel were behind the violent riots in the country.

“The US and Israel are telling… ‘we are behind you’. The same people who killed children and infants in our country are telling these rioters to go and destroy and burn,” Pezeshkian said, referring to the June military aggression against Iran.

The president said that his administration was responsible for resolving the nation’s problems and easing public concerns, while at the same time preventing rioters from undermining security.

Pezeshkian emphasized that the killing of civilians “is not acceptable at all” and said the United States and Israel are training the rioters and supporting them.

Aragchi on US, Israel role in riots: Arson ultimately burns arsonists

Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi has strongly warned the United States and the Israeli regime about the consequences of their support for the rioters, who have been seeking to turn economic protests across Iran into unrest.

The top diplomat made the remarks in a post on X on Saturday, in which he cited former CIA director Mike Pompeo as verifying the Israeli spy agency Mossad’s contribution to the riots.

According to Araghchi, the admission that was made by Pompeo in a post on X earlier this month, debunks the US administration’s allegations against the Islamic Republic of being “delusional” in citing Tel Aviv and Washington’s involvement.

“President Trump’s own former CIA Director has openly and unashamedly highlighted what Mossad and its American enablers are really up to,” the foreign minister wrote.

Amid the situation, it is rather the US and the Israeli regime, which are “delusional,” he pointed out, saying the delusion featured the allies’ believing that “arson does not ultimately [burn] arsonists.”

Also on Saturday, President Masoud Pezeshkian said the US was mistaken in believing that its tactics against other adversaries could be applied to the Islamic Republic, asserting that the Iranian people remained alert to any attempts to destabilize the country.

“Believing that the Islamic Republic of Iran is like other countries, the US is pursuing the same measures by encouraging certain individuals to create chaos and riots,” he said.

The chief executive added, however, that the nation “will support the country and the [Islamic] establishment more strongly than before.”

The comments echoed numerous remarks made by the Islamic Republic’s various authorities, who have repeatedly stressed that the country would exert due effort to address the economic protests, but stands firmly in the face of attempts at derailing protests towards disorder.