Iranian Military Commander Accuses US and Israel of Deploying ISIS Members to Carry Out Attacks

JAKARTA - Iran's supreme commander on Tuesday accused the United States and Israel of deploying members of the ISIS terrorist group to the country to carry out attacks on civilians and security personnel, amid protests against the economic conditions of the State of the Mullahs.

The Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi, said the move came after what he described as Washington and Tel Aviv's failure in the recent "12-day war" against Iran, as reported by the semi-official Tasnim news agency.

Major General Mousavi said ISIS members, whom he described as "mercenaries," were sent to the country to carry out violent attacks targeting both the Iranian public and security forces.

"Iran will not tolerate any violation of its sovereignty or territorial integrity," he said, adding that security forces had acted with restraint in handling the protests but would not allow "terrorist elements" to operate on the streets.

Neither the US nor Israel immediately responded to the allegations.

Iran has been rocked by anti-government protests since last month amid worsening economic conditions and the devaluation of the national currency, the rial, which has fallen to 145,000 per US dollar, raising the price of basic necessities.

Iranian officials have accused the US and Israel of supporting what they call "armed rioters" in the country.

There were no official casualty figures, but the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), a US-based human rights group, estimated the death toll had reached at least 646, including security forces and demonstrators, with more than 1,000 injured.

HRANA also reported that at least 10,721 people have been detained in 585 locations across the country, including 186 cities in all 31 provinces.

Yesterday, an Iranian official told Reuters that about 2,000 people had died, including security personnel, in protests that had evolved into riots in Iran, the first time local authorities had given a death toll in the two-week-old protests.

The official said the so-called terrorists were behind the deaths of the protesters and security personnel, though he did not provide details on who was killed.