&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "Khamenei calls Trump a ‘criminal,’ blames him for slander, casualties and damage during protests")
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said on Saturday that Iran considers US President Donald Trump a “criminal” and accused him of being responsible for inflicting deaths, damage, and slander on the Iranian people during the recent wave of protests, and claimed that Washington orchestrated the unrest. “The latest anti-Iran sedition was different in that the US president personally became involved,” Iranian media quoted Khamenei as saying.
Khamenei said the US and Trump personally were behind the demonstrations that swept the country and were met with a violent crackdown.
‘We consider the US president a criminal’
“We consider the US president a criminal for the casualties, damages, and the slander he inflicted on the Iranian nation,” he said, according to Iran International.
Americans had planned these events, and their goal was “domination over Iran,” he alleged.
‘Unrest was an American plot, goal of US is to devour Iran’
“The recent unrest was an American plot, and the United States’ goal is to devour Iran. Trump himself intervened in this unrest, made statements, encouraged the rioters, and said we will provide military support,” he added.
Khamenei also rejected international portrayals of the demonstrations as a popular uprising and accused Trump of misrepresenting “vandals” as the Iranian people. He praised the authorities’ response to the unrest and issued a warning to those he said were behind it. “The Iranian nation will not let go of the domestic and international criminals behind this unrest. The Iranian nation, just as it broke the back of the riot, must also break the back of those who instigated it,” Khamenei said.
Khamenei’s combative tone was in contrast to Trump’s conciliatory note, as he publicly thanked Iran’s leaders for not carrying out mass executions of detained protesters.
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Hard-line voices within Iran, however, have echoed Khamenei’s accusations. Senior clerics have called for harsh punishments for detained protesters and issued threats against both Trump and Israel.
