Tehran — Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday accused the United States of fueling deadly unrest in the country and branded U.S. President Donald Trump a “criminal” for publicly backing protesters, as he acknowledged for the first time that “several thousand” people had been killed during the wave of demonstrations.
In a speech broadcast on state television, Khamenei said the protests that began on Dec. 28 and were followed by a harsh security crackdown resulted in widespread casualties, marking the first public admission by a senior Iranian leader of the scale of the deaths.
“In this revolt, the U.S. president made remarks in person, encouraged seditious people to go ahead and said: ‘We do support you, we do support you militarily,’” Khamenei said. He reiterated long-standing accusations that Washington seeks to dominate Iran’s economic and political resources.
“We do consider the U.S. president a criminal, because of casualties and damages, because of accusations against the Iranian nation,” he added, describing protesters as “foot soldiers” of the United States and accusing them of destroying mosques and educational institutions. He also claimed some “rioters” were armed with live ammunition imported from abroad, without naming specific countries.
Khamenei’s remarks followed a more conciliatory tone from Trump a day earlier, when the U.S. president said, “Iran canceled the hanging of over 800 people,” and added, “I greatly respect the fact that they canceled,” without clarifying how he verified the claim. In recent days, Trump had told Iranian protesters that “help is on the way” and warned that his administration would “act accordingly” if the killing of demonstrators continued or if authorities carried out executions.
The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency reported that at least 3,090 people have been killed in the crackdown, making it the deadliest episode of unrest in Iran in decades and drawing comparisons to the turmoil surrounding the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The group said it relies on a network of activists inside Iran to confirm reported fatalities. The Associated Press has not independently verified the toll.
Iranian officials have repeatedly accused the United States and Israel of fomenting the unrest. On Friday, President Masoud Pezeshkian told Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call that Washington and Israel were interfering in Iran’s internal affairs.
In Tehran, there were no visible signs of protests in recent days, with shopping and daily life returning to outward normality, according to state media.
Authorities had cut off nearly all internet access on Jan. 8. On Saturday, witnesses reported that text messaging and limited internet services briefly resumed in parts of the country. Users were able to access local websites through a domestic network, and some reported limited access to international services using virtual private networks (VPNs).
Internet monitoring service Cloudflare and advocacy group NetBlocks recorded slight increases in connectivity, while the semiofficial Mehr news agency also reported limited access without providing an explanation.
A call by Iran’s exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi for renewed street protests from Saturday to Monday appeared to go largely unheeded. Pahlavi, whose father was overthrown in the 1979 Islamic Revolution, maintains support among monarchists in the diaspora but has struggled to gain broader traction inside Iran, even as he presents himself as a potential transitional leader should the current government fall.
Si Venus L Peñaflor ay naging editor-in-chief ng Newsworld, isang lokal na pahayagan ng Laguna. Publisher din siya ng Daystar Gazette at Tutubi News Magazine. Siya ay isa ring pintor at doll face designer ng Ninay Dolls, ang unang Manikang Pilipino. Kasali siya sa DesignCrowd sa rank na #305 sa 640,000 graphic designers sa buong daigdig. Kasama din siya sa unang Local TV Broadcast sa Laguna na Beyond Manila. Aktibong kasapi siya ng San Pablo Jaycees Senate bilang isang JCI Senator.
- Venus L Peñaflor
- Venus L Peñaflor
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- Venus L Peñaflor
