Iranian Official Calls Protests “Israel’s Second War,” Labels Protesters Foreign Agents

Mashallah Shamsolvaezin, a reformist journalist and a member of the Islamic Republic government’s Information Council, has described Iran’s nationwide protests in 2025–26 as “the second phase of Israel’s war against Iran” in an interview with Tasnim News Agency, which is affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Shamsolvaezin, considered as one of the media figures closest to Masoud Pezeshkian, said the “Iranian nation” showed “brilliant actions” during the 12-day war with Israel, while depicting people protesting in the streets as “operatives of a foreign enemy.”

Referring to remarks by Donald Trump about Iranian protesters not being killed, Shamsolvaezin said, "he is seeking to protect the lives of his own agents inside Iran, not the Iranian people.”

In the same interview with the IRGC-linked outlet, the government Information Council member labeled Iranian protesters as “rioters,” “creators of insecurity,” and “Israeli agents.”