“We think about the U.S. president prison for the casualties, damages and slander he inflicted on the Iranian nation,” Khamenei mentioned, in line with Iranian state media.
The protests erupted on December 28 over financial hardship and swelled into widespread demonstrations calling for the top of clerical rule within the Islamic Republic.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to intervene, together with by threatening “very robust motion” if Iran executed protesters.
However on Friday, in a social media submit, he thanked Tehran’s leaders, saying they’d referred to as off mass hangings. Iran mentioned there was “no plan to hold folks”.
In feedback that appeared to reply to Trump, Khamenei mentioned: “We is not going to drag the nation into conflict, however we is not going to let home or worldwide criminals go unpunished,” state media reported.
IRAN’S WORST UNREST IN YEARS
Iran’s final authority Khamenei mentioned “a number of thousand deaths” had occurred in the course of the nationwide protests, that are Iran’s worst unrest in years. He accused Iran’s longtime enemies the U.S. and Israel of organising the violence.
“These linked to Israel and the U.S. precipitated large injury and killed a number of thousand,” he mentioned, including that they began fires, destroyed public property and incited chaos. They “dedicated crimes and a grave slander,” he mentioned.
The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists Information Company, or HRANA, mentioned it had verified 3,090 deaths, together with 2,885 protesters, and over 22,000 arrests.
Final week, Iran’s prosecutor normal mentioned detainees would face extreme punishment. These held included individuals who “aided rioters and terrorists attacking safety forces and public property” and “mercenaries who took up arms and unfold concern amongst residents,” he mentioned.
“All perpetrators are mohareb,” state media quoted Mohammad Movahedi Azad as saying, including that investigations could be performed “with out leniency, mercy or tolerance”.
Mohareb, an Islamic authorized time period that means to wage conflict towards God, is punishable by demise below Iranian regulation.
INTERNET SERVICES ARE RESTORED IN PART
Reuters has not been capable of independently confirm the numbers of casualties or particulars of disturbances reported by Iranian media and rights teams.
Getting info has been difficult by web blackouts, which have been partially lifted on Saturday.
Iran’s crackdown seems to have broadly quelled protests, in line with residents and state media, and the semi-official Mehr Information Company reported on Saturday that web service had been restored for some customers.
The ISNA information web site mentioned SMS service had additionally been reactivated.
“Metrics present a really slight rise in web connectivity in #Iran this morning” after 200 hours of shutdown, the web monitoring group NetBlocks posted on X. Connectivity remained round 2% of atypical ranges, it mentioned.
A resident of Karaj, west of Tehran, reached by cellphone by way of WhatsApp, mentioned he observed the web was again at 4 a.m. (0000 GMT) on Saturday. Karaj skilled a number of the most extreme violence in the course of the protests. The resident, who requested to not be recognized, mentioned Thursday was the height of the unrest there.
A couple of Iranians abroad mentioned on social media that they’d additionally been capable of message customers in Iran early on Saturday.
ARRESTS HAVE FOLLOWED INTELLIGENCE OPERATIONS, MEDIA SAY
State media has reported the arrest of hundreds of “rioters and terrorists” throughout the nation, together with folks linked to opposition teams overseas that advocate the overthrow of the Islamic Republic.
The arrests included a number of folks Iranian state media described as “ringleaders”, together with a lady named as Nazanin Baradaran, who was taken into custody following “complicated intelligence operations”.
The stories mentioned that Baradaran operated below the pseudonym Raha Parham on behalf of Reza Pahlavi – the exiled son of Iran’s final shah – and had performed a number one function in organising the unrest. Reuters couldn’t confirm the report or her id.
Pahlavi, a longtime opposition determine, has positioned himself as a possible chief within the occasion of regime collapse and has mentioned he would search to re-establish diplomatic ties between Iran and Israel if he have been to imagine a management function within the nation.
Israeli officers have expressed assist for Pahlavi. In a uncommon public disclosure this month, Israeli Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu mentioned in an interview with Israel’s Military Radio that Israel had operatives “on the bottom” in Iran.
He mentioned they aimed to weaken Iran’s capabilities, although he denied they have been immediately working to topple the management.
