Khamenei Blames Trump for Instigating Deadly Protests in Iran

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has blamed former US President Donald Trump for instigating the deadly anti-government protests that have been ongoing in Iran for several weeks.

Rights advocacy groups say that more than 3,000 people have been killed in protests that have continued across Iran for over two weeks.

According to Iran’s state-run media, Khamenei said on Saturday, “We consider the US President to be criminally responsible for the massacre, destruction, and humiliation that he has imposed on the Iranian nation.”

He added, “We will not drag the country into war, but we will not allow domestic or international criminals to go unpunished.”

Western media believe that these remarks were directed specifically at Donald Trump.

Protests erupted on December 28 over Iran’s worsening economic conditions and later spread across the country. Demonstrators in the Islamic Republic called for an end to the rule of religious leaders, Reuters reported.

Since then, Trump repeatedly threatened to intervene in the country. He also warned of taking “very tough measures” if Iran carried out executions of protesters.

However, on Friday, Trump thanked Tehran’s leaders in a post on social media, saying that Iranian authorities had cancelled mass executions. Iran stated that there was “no plan” to carry out executions.

Iran’s highest authority, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said that “several thousand deaths” occurred during the nationwide protests, describing it as the most serious unrest in Iran in recent years. He blamed Iran’s long-time enemies, the United States and Israel, for organising the violence.

He said, “Those connected with Israel and the United States have caused massive destruction and killed several thousand people. They have committed crimes and serious defamation.”

He added that these individuals carried out arson attacks, destroyed government property, and incited chaos.

On Saturday, the US-based human rights group HRANA said it had verified reports of 3,090 deaths in Iran. Of them, 2,885 were protesters. More than 22,000 people have been arrested so far.