Iran’s leader has branded President Donald Trump a ‘criminal’ for supporting protesters and blamed their deaths on the US following his bloody crackdown.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei confirmed that the protests against his regime had left ‘several thousand’ people dead.
His comments were the first indication from an Iranian officials of the extent of the casualties from the wave of protests that began December 28.
Trump vowed to support demonstrators and even threatened action against Iran if any protesters were killed.
‘We do consider the US president a criminal, because of casualties and damages, because of accusations against the Iranian nation,’ Khamenei said.
‘In this revolt, the US president made remarks in person, encouraged seditious people to go ahead, and said: “We do support you, we do support you militarily,”‘ Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters, said.
He reiterated an accusation that the US seeks domination over Iran‘s economic and political resources.
He described the protesters as ‘foot soldiers’ of the US, and said they had destroyed mosques and educational centers.
‘We do consider the US president a criminal, because of casualties and damages, because of accusations against the Iranian nation,’ Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said
‘Through hurting people, they killed several thousand of them,’ he said.
His comments come a day after Trump sounded a more conciliatory tone after he claimed that Iran had canceled scheduled executions of over 800 people.
He did not clarify who he spoke to in Iran, but his comments were a sign he may be backing away from a military strike.
In recent days, Trump had told protesting Iranians that ‘help is on the way’ and that his administration would ‘act accordingly’ if the killing of demonstrators continued or if Iranian authorities executed detained protesters.
In his speech, Khamenei said rioters were armed with live ammunition that was imported from abroad, without naming any countries.
‘We do not plan, we do not take the country toward war. But we do not release domestic offenders. Worse than domestic offenders, there are international offenders. We do not let them alone either,’ the Iranian leader said.
More than 3,000 Iranians have died due to the protests, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency, a US company.
The death toll surpasses that of the 1979 revolution in the country.
More than 3,000 Iranians have died due to the protests. The death toll surpasses that of the 1979 revolution in the country. Protests have since stopped
Khamenei described the protesters as ‘foot soldiers’ of the US, and said they had destroyed mosques and educational centers
Trump had told protesting Iranians that ‘help is on the way’ and that his administration would ‘act accordingly’ if the killing of demonstrators continued or if Iranian authorities executed detained protesters
Iranian officials have repeatedly accused the United States and Israel of fomenting unrest in the country.
On Friday, Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, in a phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, accused the US and Israel of meddling in the unrest.
The protests have since settled and there has been no signs of them in Tehran, the capital, for days.
During the unrest, authorities blocked all internet access on January 8. On Saturday, text messaging and very limited internet services began functioning again briefly in parts of Iran, witnesses said.
Cellphone text messaging began operating overnight, while users were able to access local websites through a domestic internet service. Some also reported limited access to international internet services via use of a virtual private network, or VPN.
Although protests have stopped, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has threatened US forces, claiming it has pinpointed a hotel in Qatar used by top American commanders.
US troops were recently evacuated from military bases across the Middle East amid fears Iran could retaliate if Trump ordered an attack on the country.
A Telegram channel affiliated with the IRGC, which many Western nations consider a terrorist organization, warned commanders to ‘watch your heads’ in a chilling threat.
Operations Center Media said the ‘clumsy’ relocation of senior US military personnel ‘will in no way shield them from a decisive and forceful response by the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the event of any aggression against Iranian territory.’
The threat level to US forces in the region was later lowered after Trump stepped back from the brink, following Tehran’s announcement that detained protester Erfan Soltani had not been sentenced to death.