Iran Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei calls Donald Trump a criminal, blames US president for casualties

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei confirmed that “several thousand people” died in this month’s anti-government demonstrations; This was the first acknowledgment of the lethal dimension of the unrest.

At a public meeting broadcast on state television on Saturday, Khamenei said some of them were killed in “brutal and inhumane” ways, without providing details. He accused the United States and Israel of aiding the killings and said the Islamic Republic had evidence to support this claim.

Khamenei said Iran does not intend to push the country towards war, but will not allow domestic or international criminals to go unpunished.

He said US President Donald Trump was responsible for “the deaths, the damage, and the accusations he leveled against the Iranian people” and that Washington’s broader policy goal was to bring Iran under military, political and economic dominance.

The suggested death toll was in line with estimates by human rights groups and others that about 3,500 people died. The groups estimate that more than 22,000 people have been detained.

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The protests took place during a record-long internet outage for Iran’s population of about 92 million.

Local media had previously reported that internet connectivity had been partially restored, although most residents appeared to have been largely cut off from the outside world for the ninth day.

The Iranian government shut down internet and mobile phone services on January 8 to quell growing unrest sparked by the currency crisis late last month.