Iranian leader Khamenei says anti-government protesters are vandals trying to please Trump

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called anti-government protesters “troublemakers” who are trying to “please the president of the United States.”

Iran also sent a letter to the United Nations Security Council accusing the United States of turning the protests into what it called “violent subversive acts and widespread vandalism” in Iran. Trump, meanwhile, said Iran was “in big trouble.”

The protests, now in their 13th day, erupted over the economy and have become the largest in years – leading to calls for an end to the Islamic Republic and the restoration of the monarchy.

At least 48 protesters and 14 members of the security forces were killed, according to human rights groups.

An internet outage is in place.

“We’re going to hit them really hard where it hurts,” Trump said Friday at the White House, adding that his administration was carefully monitoring the situation in Iran and that any U.S. involvement did not mean “boots on the ground.”

“It seems to me that people are taking over some cities that no one really thought were possible a few weeks ago,” he said.

These comments echo those made Thursday by the American president with regard to the Iranian government, where he pledged to “hit it very hard” if it “started killing people”.

Khamenei remained defiant in a televised speech on Friday.

“Let everyone know that the Islamic Republic came to power thanks to the blood of several hundred thousand honorable people and will not back down from those who deny it,” the 86-year-old said.

Later, in remarks to a gathering of supporters and broadcast on state television, Khamenei doubled down on his commitment, saying Iran “will not hesitate to take on destructive elements.”

Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations accused the United States of “interfering in Iran’s internal affairs through threats, incitements and deliberate encouragement of instability and violence,” in a letter to the Security Council.

Since the protests began on December 28, in addition to the 48 protesters killed, more than 2,277 people have also been arrested, reported the American news agency Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA).

Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) said at least 51 protesters, including nine children, had been killed.

BBC Persian spoke to the families of 22 of them and confirmed their identities. The BBC and most other international news agencies are banned from reporting in Iran.

In a joint statement, the leaders of the United Kingdom, Germany and France said they were “deeply concerned by reports of violence by Iranian security forces and strongly condemned the killing of protesters.”

“The Iranian authorities have a responsibility to protect their own population and must guarantee freedom of expression and peaceful assembly without fear of reprisals,” said French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said the United Nations was very troubled by the loss of life. “People everywhere have the right to peaceful protest, and governments have a responsibility to protect this right and ensure it is respected,” he said.

At the same time, Iranian security and judicial authorities issued a series of coordinated warnings, toughening their rhetoric and echoing an earlier message of “no leniency” from Iran’s top security body, the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC).

Iran’s National Security Council – responsible for internal security and not to be confused with the SNSC – said “decisive and necessary legal measures would be taken” against the protesters, whom it called “armed vandals” and “disruptors of peace and security”.

In a brief statement, he warned against “any form of attack against military, police or government installations.” Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) intelligence agency said it would not tolerate what it called “terrorist acts,” saying it would continue its operations “until the enemy’s plan is completely defeated.”

Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran’s last Shah toppled in the 1979 Islamic Revolution, called on Trump on Friday to “be ready to intervene to help the Iranian people.”

Pahlavi, who lives near Washington DC, had urged protesters to take to the streets on Thursday and Friday.

Protests took place across the country, with BBC Verify checking videos from 67 locations.

Protesters gathered after weekly prayers in the southeastern town of Zahedan on Friday, according to videos verified by BBC Persian and BBC Verify. In one of the videos, people can be heard chanting “Death to the dictator,” referring to Khamenei.

In another, protesters gather near a local mosque, when several loud bangs are heard.

Another verified video from Thursday showed a fire at the offices of the Young Journalists’ Club, a subsidiary of state broadcaster Irib, in the city of Isfahan. It is not clear what caused the fire or if anyone was injured.

Photos received by the BBC on Thursday evening also showed cars overturned and set on fire at Tehran’s Kaaj roundabout.

The country has been under a near-total internet outage since Thursday evening, with minor traffic returning Friday, internet monitoring groups Cloudfare and Netblocks said. This means less information is coming from Iran.

IHRNGO Director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said in a statement that “the scale of the government’s use of force against protesters has increased, and the risk of increased violence and widespread killings of protesters following the internet shutdown is very serious.”

Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi has warned of a possible “massacre” during the internet shutdown.

A person who was able to message the BBC said they were in Shiraz, in southern Iran. He reported a rush to supermarkets by residents trying to stock up on food and other essentials, expecting worse days ahead.

The internet outage has stopped ATMs from working and it is no longer possible to pay for purchases in stores where debit cards cannot be used due to the lack of internet.

Mahsa Alimardani, who works for the human rights NGO Witness, told the BBC in London that she had not been able to contact her family since Thursday evening.

“It’s very anxiety-inducing not to have access to information, to not know if your loved ones participated [in the protests] or if they’re okay,” she said.

The protests began almost two weeks ago with Tehran traders angry over the currency collapse, before spreading to students and street demonstrations.

The last major protests took place in 2022, when demonstrations erupted after the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish woman arrested by morality police for allegedly not wearing her hijab properly.

More than 550 people were killed and 20,000 detained by security forces for several months, according to human rights groups.

Meditialaler Reha Kannsa, Reha Reha, Naji Village Sorous Sorosy