The Iranian vice president for parliamentary affairs has threatened that the Islamic Republic will respond to anyone involved in the current protests anywhere in the world. 

Mohammad Hosseini made the remarks during a Thursday interview with Al Mayadeen TV, a media outlet close to Iran-backed Lebanese militant organization Hezbollah.

"We'll respond wherever necessary, even in other countries, as we did in the case of Iraqi Kurdistan. We may even take some actions and not announce them," he said. 

The intelligence services of the US, the UK, France, Israel and Saudi Arabia are conspiring against the Islamic Republic round the clock, he claimed, adding that “even some European embassies” tried to provoke people during the recent protests and were consequently warned.

Referring to the ongoing protest and strikes across the country and its coverage by Iran International and other foreign-based Persian-language media, he said, “We now consider Iran International as a terrorist network. Many of its elements inside the country have been arrested.”

He added that “Iran International, Manoto, BBC, etc. have started a media tsunami against the Islamic Republic and its people,” claiming that “They based their work on the big lie of killing Mahsa Amini [by hijab police], someone who had been sick since childhood.” 

On Thursday, Iranian intelligence arrested Elham Afkari, claiming that she was “an agent” of Iran International. Afkari is the sister of Iranian wrestler Navid Afkari who was executed in September 2020, after participating in protests. Earlier in the week, two of our journalists were notified of threats to their lives by the UK Police.