Attack on Ayatollah Khamenei would mean declaration of war, warns Iranian President

After repeated threats of military strikes by the United States, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Sunday (Jan 18) warned that any attack on the country's supreme leader Aytollah Ali Khamenei, would be considered a declaration of war with the Islamic Republic. These comments came a day after US President Donald Trump called for an end to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s 37-year reign.

"An attack on the great leader of our country is tantamount to a full-scale war with the Iranian nation," Pezeshkian said in a post on X in an apparent response to US President Donald Trump.

On Saturday, Trump, in an interview with Politico, said, “It’s time to look for new leadership in Iran,” accusing Khamenei of killing thousands of people to keep control over power.

“What he is guilty of, as the leader of a country, is the complete destruction of the country and the use of violence at levels never seen before,” he said, adding, “To keep the country functioning, even though that function is a very low level, the leadership should focus on running its country properly, as I do with the United States, and not killing people by the thousands to keep control.”

Also Read: French President Macron seeks EU action under anti-coercion instrument against Trump tariffs over Greenland: Report

Trump made these remarks after Khamenei, 86, blamed the United States for fueling unrest in Iran. He accused the US and Israel of killing several thousand people during weeks of anti-government protests in the Islamic Republic.

“Those linked to Israel and the US caused massive damage and killed several thousand” during the protests that convulsed Iran for more than two weeks, Khamenei said.

While the Supreme Leader for the first time accepted the deaths of thousands of people during protests, he described Donald Trump as a "criminal" for involvement in the demonstrations.

“The latest anti-Iran sedition was different in that the US president personally became involved,” Iranian state media quoted him as saying.

After the waves of anti-government protests, which began as small demonstrations in markets of Iran's capital city, Tehran, against the rising concerns over the cost of living and the raging economic crisis, eased, the authorities in the Islamic Republic restored some internet access, monitoring organisation Netblocks reported.

"Traffic data indicate a significant return to some online services, including Google, suggesting that heavily filtered access has been enabled, corroborating user reports of partial restoration," Netblocks said in a social media post.