By Bongiwe Dlamini

MBABANE:Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has alleged that nationwide protests “turned violent and bloody to give an excuse” for United States President Donald Trump to intervene militarily in the country, Aljazeera reported.

Araghchi told foreign diplomats in Tehran on Monday that the violence spiked over the weekend, but the “situation is now under total control”, he said Trump’s warning of military action against Tehran should ‌protests turn ‌bloody motivated “terrorists” ⁠to target protesters and security forces ‌to invite foreign intervention.

“We are ready for war but also for dialogue,” said the Iran Foreign Minister.

Araghchi said Iran has footage of weapons being distributed to protesters, adding authorities will soon release confessions of detainees, and that authorities are “closely following” the ongoing events on the streets.