Iran’s Khamenei says ‘rioters should be put in their place’

Iran’s supreme leader insisted Saturday that “the rioters must be put in their place” after a week of protests that have rocked the Islamic Republic, likely giving security forces the green light to aggressively suppress the demonstrations.

The first comments from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 86, come as violence surrounding protests sparked by Iran’s struggling economy has killed at least 10 people. The protests show no signs of stopping and follow US President Donald Trump’s warning to Iran on Friday that if Tehran “violently kills peaceful protesters”, the United States “will come to their rescue”.

Although it is unclear how or if Trump will intervene, his comments immediately sparked an angry response, with theocracy officials threatening to target US troops in the Middle East. They also take on new importance after Trump said Saturday that the US army captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, a long-time ally of Tehran.

The protests became the largest in Iran since 2022, when the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody sparked nationwide protests. However, the protests have not yet been as widespread and intense as those surrounding the death of Amini, who was arrested because she did not wear her hijab, or headscarf, at the request of authorities.

State television broadcast Khamenei’s remarks to an audience in Tehran, seeking to separate the concerns of Iranian protesters upset by the collapse of the rial from those of the “rioters.”

“We are talking to the protesters, those responsible must talk to them,” Khamenei said. “But there is no benefit in talking to the rioters. The rioters must be put in their place.”

He also reiterated Iranian officials’ consistent assertion that foreign powers like Israel or the United States were pushing the protests, without providing any evidence. He also blamed the “enemy” for the collapse of the Iranian rial.

“A group of people incited or hired by the enemy are lining up behind traders and traders and chanting slogans against Islam, Iran and the Islamic Republic,” he said. “That’s what matters most.”

The ranks of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guards include the all-volunteer Basij force, whose motorcyclists have violently suppressed protests like the 2009 Green Movement and the 2022 protests. The guards answer only to Khamenei.

Hard-line Iranian officials have reportedly pushed for a more aggressive response to the protests as President Masoud Pezeshkian sought to engage in talks to meet demonstrators’ demands.

But such protests are often followed by bloody security measures. Protests against the rise in gasoline prices in 2019 reportedly left more than 300 dead. The months-long crackdown on the 2022 Amini protests left more than 500 people dead and more than 22,000 people arrested.

“Iran has no organized domestic opposition; protesters are likely acting spontaneously,” the Eurasia Group said in an analysis Friday. “Even though protests could continue or intensify (especially as Iran’s economic outlook remains dire), the regime retains a significant security apparatus and would likely suppress any dissent without losing control of the country.”

Deaths in the night during demonstrations

Two deaths Saturday night led to a new level of violence. In Qom, where the country’s main Shiite seminaries are located, a grenade exploded, killing a man, the official IRAN newspaper reported. It cited security officials as saying the man was carrying the grenade to attack residents in the town, about 130 kilometers south of the capital, Tehran.

Online videos from Qom reportedly showed fires in the street overnight.

The second death occurred in the town of Harsin, about 370 kilometers southwest of Tehran. There, according to the newspaper, a member of the Basij, the all-volunteer branch of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, died in a gun and knife attack in the town in Kermanshah province.

The protests reached more than 100 locations in 22 of Iran’s 31 provinces, the US news agency Human Rights Activists reported.

The protests, which are rooted in economic issues, have also heard demonstrators shouting against Iran’s theocracy. Tehran has had little luck supporting its economy in the months since June’s war with Israel, in which the United States also bombed Iranian nuclear sites in Iran.

Iran recently said it was no longer enriching uranium at any site in the country, trying to signal to the West that it remained open to possible negotiations over its nuclear program to ease sanctions. However, these negotiations have not yet taken place, as Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have warned Tehran against reconstituting the program.