(Reuters) -Iranian Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday blamed current protests in Iran on international “enemies” looking for to overthrow the federal government within the Islamic Republic.

Additionally, he mentioned, enemies had been waging a “psychological battle” in opposition to Iran by accusing it of piracy for seizing two Greek ships after the USA confiscated Iranian oil from a tanker.

“Right this moment, the enemies’ most necessary hope for putting a blow on the nation is predicated on fashionable protests,” Khamenei mentioned, referring to week-long protests over the collapse of a constructing in southwestern Iran final month that killed 37 individuals.

“However the enemies’ calculation is as unsuitable as many earlier ones,” he mentioned in a televised speech on the thirty third anniversary of the dying of the chief of Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Authorities have blamed the collapse of the 10-storey residential and business constructing in Abadan on native corruption and lax security and say 13 individuals, together with mayors and different officers, have up to now been arrested for development violations.

Protesters, nonetheless, say the catastrophe stemmed from authorities negligence and entrenched graft and have chanted slogans in opposition to officers, together with Khamenei.

Iran residents have reported disrupted web providers, an obvious try to cease using social media to organise rallies and disseminate movies. Authorities have warned individuals to observe simply official media and eschew “rumours” from social media.

America, which has imposed robust sanctions on Iran, confiscated the Iranian oil cargo on the Iranian-flagged Pegas that Greece impounded off its coast in April. Tehran retaliated by seizing two Greek ships on Could 27.

However, Khamenei mentioned, world media accuse Iran of piracy. “Who’s the pirate right here? You stole our oil. We took it again from you. Taking again a stolen good is not any theft.”

(mailto:dubai.newsroom@thomsonreuters.comEditing by Kirsten Donovan and Frances Kerry)