Addressing a congregation of people at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla (congregational prayers site), Ayatolallah Khatami said, “The goal of these rioters is to disappoint people. But our people have pinned their hope in God.”

The senior Iranian cleric pointed to the recent pro-government rallies in Iran on November 4 (the anniversary of the US Embassy takeover back in 1979) and said that this year’s massive rallies showed how massively the people in Iran support their government.

He, meantime, dismissed the claim by the enemies that there is widespread systemic corruption in the Islamic Establishment as lies, saying that corruption is fought against in the establishment with might.

Ayatollah Khatami further offered condolences to the families of the security forces who were assassinated during recent riots by foreign-backed elements in the country, and told them to be proud because those security defenders sacrificed their lives in the way of God and protecting the Islamic Establishment.

Protests erupted in several cities across Iran over the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian woman who fainted at a police station in mid-September and days later was pronounced dead at a hospital. The demonstrations soon turned violent. A special committee has been established to investigate different aspects of her tragic death.

Iranian officials blame Western countries for orchestrating the riots to destabilize the country.

Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei severely censured the deadly riots, saying they were orchestrated in advance by the United States and the Israeli regime.

“I state it clearly that these developments were planned by America, the Zionist regime and their acolytes. Their main problem is with a strong and independent Iran and the country’s progress. The Iranian nation proved to be fairly strong during recent events and will bravely come onto the scene wherever necessary in the future,” he added.

In recent weeks, Iranian officials have blamed the United States, the European Unions, and several Western states for meddling in Iran’s internal affairs over the death of Mahsa. They advised the US and its allies against “opportunism and instrumentalization of the issue of human rights” by misusing the incident.

Tehran reminded that the countries, which, themselves, towed a “long history of warmongering and violence” throughout the world, lacked the legitimacy that could authorize them to “moralize others” concerning the human rights.