Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday said the U.S. may cause a civil war in his country and called on Iranians to remain "vigilant," local media reported.
The remarks came in Khamenei's speech addressing the families of Iranian soldiers, who lost their lives in the war against Iraq (between 1980 and 1988) and in Syria since 2011.
"The U.S. is planning to cause a civil war by creating divisions in Iran through economic sanctions and security issues," he said.
Tension has mounted between Tehran and Washington after the U.S. re-imposed sanctions on Iran after it unilaterally withdrew from a 2015 nuclear deal signed between Iran and the P5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany).
The 2015 deal places strict restrictions on Iran's nuclear program in exchange for billions of dollars in sanctions relief.
