Amid protests, Khamenei digs in, says Iran won’t ‘back down’ to ‘saboteurs,’ Trump will be ‘overthrown’

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vows that the Islamic Republic will “not back down” in the face of protesters whom he called “vandals” and “saboteurs” in a speech broadcast on state TV.

In his first comments on the escalating protests since January 3, Khamenei said US President Donald Trump’s hands “are stained with the blood of more than a thousand Iranians” and predicted the “arrogant” US leader would be “overthrown” like the imperial dynasty that ruled Iran up to the 1979 revolution.

He accuses protesters of acting on behalf of Trump, saying rioters were attacking public properties and warning that Tehran will not tolerate people acting as “mercenaries for foreigners.”

“Last night in Tehran, a bunch of vandals and rioters came and destroyed a building that belonged to the state, to the people themselves, just to please the heart of the president of the United States,” Khamenei said, urging Trump to “manage your own country.”

The protests that began over soaring inflation in the Islamic Republic late last month have spiraled into the biggest demonstrations in three years, with unrest reported in every province and rights groups documenting dozens of deaths.

Iran’s fragmented external opposition factions called for more protests today with Reza Pahlavi, exiled son of the late ruling shah, telling Iranians in a social media post: “The eyes of the world are upon you. Take to the streets.”

Trump, who bombed Iran alongside Israel last summer and who last week warned Tehran that the US could come to the protesters’ aid, said he would not meet Pahlavi and was “not sure that it would be appropriate” to back him.

Images published by state television overnight showed what it said were burning buses, cars and motorbikes as well as fires at metro stations and banks. It accused the People’s Mujahedin Organization, an opposition faction known as the MKO that splintered off after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, of being behind the unrest.

A state television journalist standing in front of the fires on Shariati Street in the Caspian Sea port of Rasht said “this looks like a war zone – all the shops have been destroyed.”

Iran has quelled far bigger bouts of unrest before, but it now faces a graver economic situation and intensifying international pressure with global sanctions over its nuclear program reimposed since September.

While the initial protests were focused on the economy, with the rial currency losing half its value against the dollar last year and inflation topping 40% in December, they have morphed to include slogans directly against the authorities.

Protesters have chanted slogans including “Death to the dictator” and praising the former monarchy that was toppled in 1979.