Shafaq News– Tehran/ Caracas

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid warned Iran’s leadership on Saturday to pay close attention to developments in Venezuela, drawing an implicit comparison between unrest in Tehran and the sudden escalation in Caracas.

Earlier today, US President Donald Trump announced the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro following US air strikes on the country. Venezuela was thrust into an abrupt military escalation after a series of explosions rocked the capital. The Venezuelan government said the United States had carried out air attacks on civilian and military sites across several states.

Trump has separately warned that Washington would intervene if peaceful protesters were killed in Iran, as reports of violence and fatalities spread across multiple Iranian regions amid growing demonstrations.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei also commented on the latest protests, acknowledging that demonstrators’ economic demands were “legitimate,” while drawing a sharp line with what he described as rioters. He said there was “no point in dialogue” with those groups and that they must be “stopped.” Khamenei further accused what he called “agitators and enemy mercenaries” of standing behind protesting traders and of chanting slogans hostile to Islam and Iran.

Iranian police said protests are continuing to spread and have become more violent, warning of the risk of an “armed uprising,” according to Iran’s Fars News Agency.