Protests against the Islamic regime in Iran continued early Saturday morning, amid a reported deadly crackdown on demonstrators. TIME magazine cited a Tehran doctor speaking on condition of anonymity that just six hospitals in the capital recorded at least 217 killed protesters, “most by live ammunition.”
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Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei earlier in the day slammed the protesters as foreign-influenced agitators, dismissing U.S. President Donald Trump as having hands “stained with the blood of Iranians.”
State media later referred to the demonstrators as “terrorists,” setting the stage for a violent crackdown as in other protests in recent years.
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Protesters are “ruining their own streets … in order to please the president of the United States,” Khamenei said. “Because he said that he would come to their aid. He should pay attention to the state of his own country instead.”
Trump meanwhile reiterated his pledge to back peaceful protesters with force.
“Iran’s in big trouble. It looks to me that the people are taking over certain cities that nobody thought were really possible,” he said in a video circulated on social media. “We’re watching. I made the statement very strongly that if they start killing people like they have in the past, we will get involved.”