America must be “held accountable”

“The Iranian nation has defeated the United States,” Iran’s supreme leader said, accusing President Donald Trump of inflicting massive casualties and leading a failed attempt to reassert American control – insisting that “the United States has lost its dominance over Iran” and must now “be held accountable.”

In a brazen rhetorical attack by a foreign leader on a sitting U.S. president, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei took to social media and state-related platforms this weekend to publicly blame President Trump for the unrest in Iran and claim that Tehran had triumphed over America.

“We find the American President guilty due to the losses, damage and slander he inflicted on the Iranian nation,” the Islamic dictator wrote on Saturday, saying the United States – and Trump personally – was behind what he had done. called a “sedition” orchestrated by the United States

He doubled down on his provocative claims about Iranian domination.

“From the beginning of the Islamic Revolution until today, the United States has lost its dominance over Iran,” he wrote: addition that the Iranian nation “dealt a major blow” to “sedition.”

“The Iranian nation has defeated the United States,” he said in another message.

Khamenei’s accusations reflect increasingly strong anti-American rhetoric, with Tehran portraying itself as victorious over American influence and President Trump’s policies. His warning follows similar attacks by senior Iranian officials, even as widespread unrest has left thousands dead.

Last week, Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf warned that Iran will teach “delusional” and “arrogant” President Trump a “lesson that will never be forgotten,” promising that U.S. forces would be “burned by the fire of Iran’s defenders” while insisting, “We are your adversary.”

Friday, a senior regime official Hassan Rahimpour Azghadi spear in an aggressive tirade on a television show, calling President Trump an “unclean, wild yellow dog” who “must pay the price” and should be captured and punished “like Maduro.” Azghadi said violent attacks on U.S. soil would be justified both legally and religiously.

Azghadi, a longtime member of Iran’s Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, wields deep influence within the regime’s ideological apparatus. His access to state television highlights the normalization of violent discourse targeting the US president and American citizens.

These new threats follow the speech given Friday by Supreme Leader Khamenei, who predicted that President Trump would soon be “brought down.”

The escalating rhetoric comes as the Iranian regime — widely recognized as the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism — faces nearly three weeks of anti-government protests fueled by economic collapse and political repression, while authorities cut communications and carried out mass arrests and deadly crackdowns that echo the very red lines that President Trump has warned would trigger a U.S. response.

Last week, President Trump responded with a series of public statements supporting the Iranian protesters.

“Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before,” he wrote, warning that the regime’s brutality was being closely monitored by the United States and its allies.

On Sunday evening, President Trump replied forcefully to the growing threats from the Iranian regime.

“The military is looking at it, and we are looking at some very strong options,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One. Asked about Tehran’s warnings, he clarified the consequences: “If they do this, we will hit them at levels they have never been hit before.” »

Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, dismissed President Trump’s warnings during pro-regime protests in Tehran on Monday, saying: “Trump talks too much, don’t take him seriously.”

“The massive presence of Iranians in the streets shows that our people are ready to settle scores with the United States and Israel,” he added.

On Friday, Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, a high-ranking member of the Iranian theocracy who sits on several of its highest governing bodies, required the execution of protesters and made threats against President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

This growing rhetoric comes as Washington has decided to back up its warnings with concrete actions on the economic and military fronts. Last week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced sweeping new sanctions targeting senior Iranian officials and regime-linked financial networks, accusing Tehran’s ruling elite of behaving “like rats fleeing a sinking ship” as they rush to move tens of millions of dollars abroad amid growing unrest.

At the same time, the Pentagon confirmed the redeployment of the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group from the Indo-Pacific to the Middle East, part of a broader repositioning of US combat power as tensions rise – signaling that the administration’s response to Iran’s threats and internal repression is now unfolding simultaneously across diplomatic, financial and military lines.