The country\u2019s supreme leader says foreign-backed protests \u2018caused massive damage and killed several thousands\u2019.<\/p>\n
Published On 17 Jan 202617 Jan 2026<\/p>\n
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Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has accused the United States and Israel of direct involvement in the violence that accompanied weeks of protests across the country, describing US President Donald Trump as a \u201ccriminal\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe latest anti-Iran sedition was different in that the US president personally became involved,\u201d Iranian state media quoted Khamenei as saying on Saturday.<\/p>\n
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He said foreign-linked actors were responsible for widespread bloodshed and destruction. \u201cThose linked to Israel and US caused massive damages and killed several thousands\u201d during the protests that have convulsed Iran for more than two weeks, he said.<\/p>\n
Iranian authorities have increasingly pointed the finger at foreign powers for the unrest, accusing longstanding geopolitical rivals \u2013 mainly Israel and the US \u2013 of fomenting instability and directing operations on the ground.<\/p>\n
Khamenei warned that while Iran would avoid escalation beyond its borders, those it holds responsible would face consequences. \u201cWe will not drag the country into war, but we will not let domestic or international criminals go unpunished,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The remarks underscore Tehran\u2019s hardening stance as protests linked to economic hardship and political grievances continue to reverberate across the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The country\u2019s supreme leader says foreign-backed protests \u2018caused massive damage and killed several thousands\u2019. Published On 17 Jan…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":702017,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5311],"tags":[32,1234,774,837,839,12,2579,49,978,286,659],"class_list":{"0":"post-702016","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-donald-trump","9":"tag-government","10":"tag-iran","11":"tag-israel","12":"tag-middle-east","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-protests","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-us","17":"tag-us-canada","18":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115910262272873454","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=702016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702016\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/702017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=702016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=702016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=702016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}