Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has issued a warning against the protests planned by the opposition later this week, reports the Washington Post.

This message was a direct response to the protest planned on the anniversary of Iran’s Islamic revolution on Thursday, escalated by the promised participation of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei denounced the opposition as “counterrevolutionaries” being used by the country’s enemies, the United States, Britain and Israel, and vowed that Iranian unity in support of the Islamic revolution would defeat them.

Iranians “will punch (them) in their mouths to shock them,” Khamenei said.

The opposition, he said, was not a part of the Iranian people. “Today, it is clear that those who stand against the great job done by the Iranian nation in the election, are not a part of the people” of Iran.

The opposition claims that Mousavi was the rightful winner of June 12 presidential elections and that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s victory was fraudulent. Street protests have persisted despite a heavy crackdown by security forces in which hundreds have been arrested.

In the past month, two people have been executed, and death sentences have been announced against nine others accused in the postelection unrest – moves widely seen as an attempt by the court to intimidate protesters.

The opposition has promised to avoid violence on Thursday, but recent protests have resulted in brutally violent clashes between security and protesters, resulting in at least 8 deaths and many injuries.