Iran's supreme leader called the recent unrest in the country an attempted coup

On February 1, Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said that the recent mass riots in the country, which began in late December and swept through a number of cities, were in fact an attempt at a coup d'etat aimed at undermining stability and destroying government.

"The recent unrest was like a coup that was defeated," Khamenei was quoted as saying by the ISNA news agency.

He stressed Tehran's readiness to give a decisive response to external aggression, but noted that the country "does not seek to be the first to start hostilities."

According to the Supreme leader, the rioters attacked government offices, law enforcement agencies and other critical facilities, which in fact corresponded to an attempt to undermine public order. These actions were stopped by the security forces, and the situation in the country as a whole is under control.

The Middle East is on edge: what will the escalation between the United States and Iran lead to?

Experts consider the risk of a large-scale escalation to be extremely high

The head of the General Staff of the Iranian Army, Amir Hatami, said on January 31 that Iran was closely monitoring incoming intelligence data amid threats from the United States. He noted that a number of neighboring states have already made it clear that they will not allow their territories or airspace to be used to attack Iran.

Sources of The New York Times reported on January 26 that the Iranian government is in the weakest position, which has not been recorded since the 1979 revolution. Two days later, US President Donald Trump announced that large military forces of his state had approached the shores of the republic, and later threatened Tehran with more powerful strikes than those already inflicted in the summer of 2025.

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