Iranian leader Khamenei accuses Trump of inciting protests; the death toll exceeds 3,000

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday blamed President Donald Trump for weeks of protests that human rights groups say have left more than 3,000 people dead.

“We consider the American president criminal for the losses, damage and slander he inflicted on the Iranian nation,” Khamenei said, according to Iranian state media.

The protests erupted on December 28 due to economic difficulties and grew into widespread demonstrations calling for an end to clerical rule in the Islamic Republic.

Trump has repeatedly threatened to intervene, including threatening “to take very strong action” if Iran executed protesters.

But in a social media post on Friday, he thanked Tehran’s leaders, saying they had called off the mass hangings. Iran said there were “no plans to hang people.”

In comments that appeared to respond to Trump, Khamenei said: “We will not drag the country into war, but we will not let domestic or international criminals go unpunished,” state media reported.

Iran’s top authority, Khamenei, said “several thousand deaths” had occurred during the nationwide protests, which constitute the worst unrest Iran has seen in years. He blamed Iran’s longtime foes, the United States and Israel, for organizing the violence.

“Those linked to Israel and the United States caused massive damage and killed several thousand people,” he said, adding that they started fires, destroyed public property and incited chaos. They “committed crimes and serious slander,” he said.

The US Human Rights Activists News Agency, or HRANA, said it had verified 3,090 deaths, including 2,885 protesters, and more than 22,000 arrests.

Last week, Iran’s attorney general said the detainees would be severely punished. Among those detained are people who “helped rioters and terrorists attack security forces and public property” and “mercenaries who took up arms and sowed fear among citizens,” he said.

“All the perpetrators are mohareb,” Mohammad Movahedi Azad was quoted as saying by state media, adding that investigations would be carried out “without leniency, without pity or tolerance”.

Mohareb, an Islamic legal term meaning waging war against God, is punishable by death under Iranian law.

Reuters was not able to independently verify the number of casualties or details of the unrest reported by Iranian media and rights groups.

Obtaining information has been complicated by internet shutdowns, which were partly lifted on Saturday.

Iran’s crackdown appears to have largely suppressed the protests, according to residents and state media, and the semi-official Mehr news agency reported Saturday that internet service had been restored to some users.

The ISNA news site reported that the SMS service had also been reactivated.

“Measurements show a very slight increase in Internet connectivity in #Iran this morning” after 200 hours of closure, Internet monitoring group NetBlocks posted on X. Connectivity remained around 2% of ordinary levels, it said.

A resident of Karaj, west of Tehran, reached by phone via WhatsApp, said he noticed the internet was back at 4 a.m. local time (0000 GMT) on Saturday. Karaj saw some of the most serious violence during the protests. The resident, who asked not to be identified, said Thursday was the peak of the unrest.

A few Iranians abroad said on social media that they were also able to send messages to users in Iran on Saturday morning.

State media reported the arrests of thousands of “rioters and terrorists” across the country, including people linked to opposition groups abroad that advocate the overthrow of the Islamic Republic.

The arrests include several people described by Iranian state media as “ringleaders,” including a woman named Nazanin Baradaran, who was arrested following “complex intelligence operations.”

Reports indicate that Baradaran operated under the pseudonym Raha Parham on behalf of Reza Pahlavi – the exiled son of Iran’s last shah – and played a leading role in organizing the unrest. Reuters could not verify the report or his identity.

Pahlavi, a longtime opposition figure, has positioned himself as a potential leader in the event of a regime collapse and has said he would seek to restore diplomatic ties between Iran and Israel if he were to assume a leadership role in the country.

Israeli officials have expressed support for Pahlavi. In a rare public disclosure this month, Israeli Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu said in an interview with Israeli Army Radio that Israel had agents “on the ground” in Iran.

He said they aimed to weaken Iran’s capabilities, while denying that they were directly aimed at overthrowing the leadership.