Iran's Khamenei blames Trump for inciting deadly protests

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday (January 17) blamed U.S. President Donald Trump for weeks of protests after rights groups said a violent crackdown by security forces had claimed thousands of lives.

On Sunday, an Iranian official in the region said at least 5,000 people have been killed in the protests, including about 500 security personnel, citing verified figures and accusing "terrorists and armed rioters" of killing "innocent Iranians".

The protests erupted on December 28 over economic hardship and swelled into widespread demonstrations calling for the end of clerical rule in the Islamic Republic.

Trump has repeatedly threatened to intervene, including promising to "take very strong action" if Iran executed protesters.

But on Friday (January 16), in a social media post, he thanked Tehran's leaders, saying they had called off mass hangings. Iran said there was "no plan to hang people."

Iran's clerical establishment blames the violence in Iran's nationwide protests on people it says are armed rioters posing as protesters, labelling them “terrorists” and saying that Israel and the U.S. were responsible for organizing them and for many of the deaths of demonstrators and security forces.

Production: Anita Kobylinska, Bahareh Khodabandeh/Reuters