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

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.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

SHOWS: TEHRAN, IRAN (JANUARY 17, 2026) (POOL VIA WANA - No use BBC Persian. No use VOA Persian. No use Manoto. No use Iran International. No use Radio Farda)

1. SUPREME LEADER OF IRAN, AYATOLLAH ALI KHAMENEI, SITTING IN FRONT OF CHANTING CROWD

2. ATTENDEES CHANTING (Farsi): “America, death to England, death to the infidel hypocrites”

3. (SOUNDBITE) (Farsi) SUPREME LEADER OF IRAN, AYATOLLAH ALI KHAMENEI, SAYING:

"We consider the U.S. president guilty, both for the casualties, for the damages, and for the slander he made against the Iranian nation.”

4. VARIOUS OF ATTENDEES CHANTING

5. (SOUNDBITE) (Farsi) SUPREME LEADER OF IRAN, AYATOLLAH ALI KHAMENEI, SAYING:

“The nature of the sedition, this sedition was American, it was clear. The Americans planned and acted. The aim of the Americans - and I am stating this clearly and unequivocally with forty-odd years of experience in the Islamic Republic - is to swallow Iran."

6. VARIOUS OF ATTENDEES CHANTING (Farsi): “Death to America, death to America, death to America.”

7. (SOUNDBITE) (Farsi) SUPREME LEADER OF IRAN, AYATOLLAH ALI KHAMENEI, SAYING:

“In the past, when sedition like this occurred in the country, which we had, we had numerous seditions, it was often the American press, second-rate politicians from America or European countries who interfered. This was a feature of this sedition that the U.S. President himself intervened in the sedition, spoke, made comments, threatened, encouraged the 'seditionists', gave them a message from America to these people, who I will tell you later, who they were, that 'you go ahead, go ahead, don't be afraid', he said 'we'll support you, we'll provide military support', so that is, the U.S. President himself entered the sedition, and was part of the sedition."

8. ATTENDEES CHANTING (Farsi): “Death to America, death to England, death to traitors, death to Israel.”

9. (SOUNDBITE) (Farsi) SUPREME LEADER OF IRAN, AYATOLLAH ALI KHAMENEI, SAYING:

"He said openly, he spoke openly, he encouraged openly, we have documents one after another that they helped, both they (the Americans) and the Zionist regime helped, which I will briefly explain now, it became a historic day like 22nd Bahman (the anniversary of Revolution). We are not leading the country to war, we do not intend to lead the country to war, but we will not leave the domestic criminals either."

10. ATTENDEES CHANTING

11. (SOUNDBITE) (Farsi) SUPREME LEADER OF IRAN, AYATOLLAH ALI KHAMENEI, SAYING:

"Worse than domestic criminals are the international criminals, we will not leave them alone either. It must be pursued in its own ways and in the right way, and by the grace of God, the Iranian nation must defeat the 'seditionist' just as it defeated the sedition."

12. VARIOUS OF ATTENDEES CHANTING (Farsi): “Death to the U.S., death to England, death to the hypocrites, death to Israel."