TEHRAN — Members of Iran’s ruling establishment took turns on Thursday assigning blame for what they regard as an embarrassing outbreak of protests in more than 80 cities across the country.

Iran’s chief prosecutor elaborated on the government’s claims that the United States and other foreign enemies were responsible for stirring up trouble. The United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia planned the “riots” to “subvert the Iranian government,” the prosecutor, Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, said on state television.

“The U.S., the Zionist regime and the Al Sauds were the three sides of this subversive plan, and Saudi Arabia committed to provide money for it,” Mr. Montazeri said.

Mr. Montazeri asserted that Michael D’Andrea, a C.I.A. officer who runs Iran operations, was a “main designer” of the protests and that the C.I.A. hoped to turn the protest into an “armed” revolt by mid-February, the anniversary of the country’s 1979 Islamic revolution.