The leader of Hezbollah reportedly claimed he receives a $1,300 monthly salary from Tehran as protesters in Iran express anger over the country’s financial support for the Shiite terrorist group and other foreign entities while many Iranians live below the poverty line.

“Activists in Lebanon ridiculed the announcement, during an interview with a TV station, by Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah that his monthly salary, from Iran, was $1300,” reports Saudi Arabia’s Al-Arabiya.

The news outlet notes that the Hezbollah chief attempted “to deflect” the anger of Iranian protesters shouting in the streets across the country against Tehran’s insistence to keep funding Hezbollah while about 40 percent of Iranian households reportedly live below the poverty line.

Nasrallah refused to disclose how much money Iran is awarding Hezbollah.

The Jerusalem Post reported in September 2017 that Iran has dramatically boosted its financial support to Hezbollah from $200 million to more than $800 million a year.

The revelation came two years after the Islamic Republic and U.S.-led world powers agreed to the nuclear deal in July 2015.

A day after Iran and the international powers announced the deal, former President Barack Obama conceded Iran would likely use sanctions relief funds linked to the pact to fund its terrorist proxies, namely the Lebanon-based Hezbollah, which is known to operate in the United States’ backyard, Latin America.

While they acknowledged that Iran’s economic woes are indeed feeding the ongoing rallies in Iran, experts at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD) think tank noted on Friday that the demonstrations are primarily fueled by displeasure with decisions made by the Islamic Republic’s regime.

Protesters have chanted death threats against Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Demonstrators have focused on Tehran’s enormous expenditures on war efforts in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and Lebanon as well as funding for Iran’s terror proxies, chanting: “Death to Hezbollah!”

By November 2016, the death toll among Tehran-recruited Shiite troops, including non-Iranians, fighting on behalf of dictator Bashar al-Assad in Syria had already surpassed 1,000, revealed the Islamic Republic at the time.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has come out in support of the anti-establishment protesters in Iran.

Meanwhile, Iranian government officials and Hezbollah leaders have launched a coordinated effort to blame the Trump administration for mounting unrest against the Islamic dictatorship.

“America, Israel and Saudi Arabia have entered the crisis in Iran,” claimed Hezbollah chief Nasrallah, without providing evidence to support the allegation.

He also said that “there is nothing to worry about” for the regime in Iran, noting that “Trump’s hopes” of an insurrection “have been disappointed.”

The ongoing protests have been raging since late last month.