Tehran, Oct 13 (IANS/AKI): Demonstrations against Wall Street will "topple Western capitalism", Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Wednesday.

"The anti Wall Street protests are very important and their significance is being minimised by American authorities and media, but the people at this point are able to see the corruption of the capitalist system," said Iran's highest authority during a televised speech in Kermashah in the country's west.

Khamenei, 72, referred to the Occupy Wall Street activists' motto "We are the 99 percent" by criticising the US-led military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"The one percent (who are ruling America) launched the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but the remaining 99 percent have to suffer the deaths and pay for it," he said.

Occupy Wall Street demonstrations began in early September in New York's financial district in Lower Manhattan and have since spread to other American cities. Protesters contend that the US government is coddling the wealthy at the expense of the majority of the population.

Critics like New York mayor Michael Bloomberg contend the protesters are costing the city money and jobs, while others have called them unpatriotic.