Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Friday issued a stern warning to Donald Trump and said that the US president should focus on his own country. The 86-year-old Iranian Supreme Leader called Trump 'arrogant' and said that he will be 'overthrown' soon.
In a brief address televised by the Iranian state media, Khamenei also slammed the protesters and said they were "ruining their own streets" to please the president of another country, referring to Trump. Notably, while Khamenei was addressing the nation, audience in the background were shouting 'death to America'.
"Everyone should know that the Islamic Republic came to power with the blood of hundreds of thousands of honorable people, and it will not back down in the face of saboteurs," Khamenei said. "They want to make him happy. If he knew how to run a country, he would run his own."
The protests in Iran and Trump
Iran is witnessing one of the worst protests in years, as the country deals with an economic crisis due to sanctions imposed by the US-led West. The Iranian government has blamed the US for the protests, which has claimed at least 42 lives so far. Iran has also launched a massive crackdown on protesters, detaining more than 2,270 of them, according to a report by the Associated Press.
Trump has warned the Iranian government against killing the 'brave' protesters. Hailing the agitators, the 79-year-old Republican president said that the Iranians should "feel strongly about freedom". "There’s nothing like freedom. You’re brave people. It’s a shame what’s happened to your country," Trump said.
Earlier, his deputy, Vice President JD Vance, had also issued a warning to the Iranian government and said that Tehran has a "lot of problems" and they should negotiate with the US over their nuclear programme.
Iran's exiled prince backs anti-Khamenei protests
With the situation remaining grim, Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, whose fatally ill father fled Iran just before the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution, has backed the anti-Khamenei protests. Notably, many of the agitators on Thursday were also seen raising slogans such as "This is the last battle! Pahlavi will return!" during the protests
Pahlavi has also urged European leaders to back Trump in taking possible action against Khamenei regime. "I call on them to use all technical, financial, and diplomatic resources available to restore communication to the Iranian people so that their voice and their will can be heard and seen," he said in an address recently.
