Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has condemned Western countries for seeking regime change in Iran, saying their attempts to destabilise the country are a cause of deep concern.
‘Deep concern is caused by the frank, declared attempts to destabilise the foreign policy situation in Iran,’ Lavrov told a press conference reviewing the results of Russian diplomacy in 2025.
The Russian minister was referring to the recent wave of riots and terrorist attacks against members of security forces and civilians in Iran, which were openly supported by US President Donald Trump and some other Western officials.
‘In particular, (the head of EU diplomacy) Kaja Kallas recently stated that, by supporting protests, the international community represented by the EU is seeking regime change in this country,’ he said.
Russia has voiced support for the Islamic Republic in the face of the terrorist riots and lashed out at the West for inciting violence in the country.
Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin told his Iranian counterpart, Masoud Pezeshkian, in a phone conversation that the recent march of millions of Iranians in support of their leadership clearly showed the real situation in Iran.
In his presser, Lavrov also said that Moscow sees no reason to stop trading with Iran and will continue to do so despite US sanctions threats.
‘We are trading with (Iran). It is you and us. Our trade will develop the way we decide it to do,’ he said, referring to an announcement by Trump on January 12 that any country doing business with Iran would face a tariff rate of 25% on any trade with the US.
Lavrov added that they’ve ‘good plans’ with Iran, citing the development of the Bushehr nuclear power plant and also the International North-South Transport Corridor, which connects Russia, Azerbaijan, and Iran.
‘Many other projects are now being worked on, and I see no reason for us or our Iranian friends to halt them,’ he said, adding that Trump is using tariffs as a ‘political instrument’ and that such measures show the US is not fully confident in its own competitiveness in global markets.
Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran’s deposed Shah, has once again openly appealed to the United States and Israel to launch an all-out war against his own country, following the nation’s thwarting of a US-Israeli plot aimed at ‘regime change’.
In an interview with Fox News, Pahlavi, the son of Iran’s US-backed monarch who fled the country after his father’s dictatorship was overthrown in the 1979 Islamic Revolution, publicly called for military strikes against Iran, saying he does not care whether such action is carried out by the United States, Israel, or another actor.
Pleading for foreign aggression, he claimed that a single ‘definitive strike’ could ‘completely reverse the odds’ and help bring down the current Iranian government.
‘It could be an American strike. It could be an Israeli strike. It could be whatever,’ he added.
Pahlavi went further, claiming that to fully defeat the Iranian state, any military campaign would need to target the country’s entire military and security institutions.
The Fox News anchor interviewing him responded by noting that such a campaign ‘could be a lot’.
In June last year, Israel and the United States failed to conquer Iran despite hundreds of attacks against the country during a 12-day war. Iran showed its will and ability to strike back as hundreds of Iranian missiles and drones pounded targets in occupied territories, and also a major US base in Qatar.
Pahlavi’s remarks come after merchants in Iran organised peaceful demonstrations in Tehran to protest sharp fluctuations in the national currency, the rial.
Seizing the moment, Pahlavi sought to exploit the situation by calling on Mossad- and CIA-linked sleeper cells inside Iran to incite riots and hijack what had begun as peaceful protests.
The foreign-backed riots in Iran once again highlight the deepening alliance between the Israeli regime and Pahlavi monarchists, bent on destabilising the country and engineering ‘regime change’.
The ties between Pahlavi and Israel were further solidified after the Tel Aviv regime launched the unprovoked 12-day aggression, which claimed the lives of more than 1,000 people, including women and children.
While the Iranian nation mourned its martyrs, Pahlavi monarchists openly celebrated. Reza Pahlavi offered no words of sympathy for the victims of the 12-day war, laying bare where his loyalties truly lie.
A top-ranking Iranian military official has dismissed recent rhetorical threats from US President Donald Trump, warning that any hostile action directed toward Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, would result in a devastating military retaliation.
General Abolfazl Shekarchi, the spokesman for the General Staff of the Armed Forces, made the remarks at a meeting in Tehran on Tuesday.
General Shekarchi rejected recent threats by Trump, in which he said Iran’s leadership must change, as part of a broader psychological warfare campaign.
‘We do not attach significant importance to Trump’s clamour,’ he said.
‘Trump knows that if a hand of aggression is extended toward our Leader, we will not only sever that hand, and this is not a mere slogan, but we will set their world on fire and leave them no safe haven in the region,’ General Shekarchi stated.
‘The enemies are aware of this, yet they continue their cognitive warfare. They know that if even a corner of our territory is violated, we will neutralise the threat before it can expand,’ he added, citing the 12-day war of June 2025 as a historical precedent to this capability.
General Shekarchi also commented on the failure of the foreign-backed riots aimed at destabilising Iran’s economy.
He specifically lauded the resilience of the Iranian bazaar and trade unions, noting they refused to participate in coordinated efforts to create chaos during recent unrest.
‘One of the major scenarios during the 12-day war was to provoke turmoil in the market simultaneously with military pressure,’ the general explained, saying that the strategy was a failure.
President Pezeshkian says any attack against Ayatollah Khamenei will be tantamount to a full-fledged war with the Iranian nation.
The Iranian general stated that the enemy attempted this strategy again during the recent riots, but it was once again defeated.
‘As soon as the merchants and guilds realised that the enemy was seeking to exploit the situation, they did not delay for even a single minute. On the night of January 9, all evil groups and parties united and entered the scene in an organised manner.
‘However, the merchants and guilds once again showed self-sacrifice here and disappointed the enemy.’
Addressing the nature of recent deadly riots in the country, Shekarchi said the terrorist elements employed a ‘bloody strategy’ aimed at maximising casualties regardless of the victims’ backgrounds.
He stated that more than two-thirds of those killed by the terrorist groups were innocent civilians, including youth and children.
The general highlighted the restraint shown by Iranian security forces, including the Police, Basij, and the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC).
According to Shekarchi, security personnel often entered the field without firearms to prevent accidental harm to citizens, frequently placing themselves at extreme personal risk.
‘Our forces were subjected to brutal attacks … They act as shields to protect the youth from being killed … our forces were dismembered, and burned with gasoline,’ Shekarchi stated.
Iran was the scene of highly violent riots exploiting concerns about the rising cost of living earlier this month.
Authorities have acknowledged the legitimacy of economic grievances and vowed to address them, which are directly linked to unilateral, illegal US sanctions targeting Iran’s central bank and oil exports.
But they vowed to deal decisively with terrorists wreaking havoc across the country; terrorists supported by the United States and the Israeli regime.
Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened military action against Iran under the guise of supporting armed mercenaries, which he has termed ‘peaceful protesters’.
Last week, he called for an end to Ayatollah Khamenei’s leadership.
‘It’s time to look for new leadership in Iran,’ Trump told the Politico website.
On Tuesday, the national security commission of the Iranian Parliament said in a statement that any attack on Ayatollah Khamenei would trigger a declaration of Jihad.
‘Any attack on the Leader means a declaration of war with the entire Islamic world and must await the issuance of a Jihad decree by Islamic scholars and the response of Islam’s soldiers in all parts of the world,’ the parliamentary commission said.