![First Vice-President of Iran, Eshaq Jahangiri delivers a speech during the meeting held by supporters of Iranian Presidential candidate Hassan Rouhani, at Hijab Sport Complex in Tehran, Iran on 14 May, 2017 [Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/20170514_2_23671945_22098296.jpg?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1)
Iranian Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri has warned countries in the region that they will face serious consequences if they are involved in the recent unrest witnessed in Iran.
“Some countries in the region should know that they will not have an easy life in the region if clues are found that show they intervened to create unrest in Iran,” the semi-official Fars news agency quoted Jahangiri as saying. The official didn’t name which countries were suspected of involvement.
Iran has previously blamed “thugs” with links to foreign dissidents and enemies for stoking protests following the rise in gasoline prices.
The protests are the most violent in almost ten years.
Iranian television quoted police officials as saying that they had arrested 180 leaders of the protest movement across the country.
On 15 November, protests erupted across Iran after the government announced a 50 per cent rise in petrol prices in an effort to recoup losses as a result of US sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic.
READ: What roles do Iran, Saudi and UAE play in the popular uprisings in Lebanon, Iraq and Algeria