US blockade aims to spark protests: Iran

TEHRAN
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian says that the country is facing its most intense blockade since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, accusing the United States of seeking to provoke public protests, media reports.
“Over the 48 years since the Revolution, we have never faced such an intense blockade, war and difficulties as we are facing now,” Pezeshkian said in a speech broadcast by state television.
He accused Washington of seeking to make life difficult for Iranians in order to fuel public anger and trigger unrest.
Pezeshkian said the US was focusing its efforts on making “the people become upset and face difficulties, and then for social protests to emerge so that they can achieve their sinister objectives”.
A summit between the European Union and Gulf countries in Riyadh has been postponed, Brussels has said, as Saudi Arabia faces sustained attacks from Yemen’s Houthis, media reports. “The second Summit between the European Union and the Gulf Cooperation Council, originally planned for 24 October 2026 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, has been postponed. A new date will be announced in due course,” the European Council representing the bloc’s member states said.