Amid ongoing protests over an ailing economy, Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, on Saturday, January 3, warned that rioters would be “put in place.”
In a televised address, Khamenei sought to distinguish between the concerns of protesting Iranians, who were upset about the collapse of the Rial (Iran’s currency), and “rioters.”
“We talk to protesters, the officials must talk to them,” Khamenei said. “But there is no benefit to talking to rioters. Rioters must be put in their place.”
He reiterated a claim constantly made by officials, that foreign powers like Israel or the US were pushing the protests, without offering any evidence.
Calling the US “enemy” and holding it responsible for the country’s collapsing Rial, the Supreme Leader cautioned the United States “must leave immediately.”
“A bunch of people incited or hired by the enemy are getting behind the tradesmen and shopkeepers and chanting slogans against Islam, Iran and the Islamic Republic. This is what matters most,” he said, adding, “America must and will leave this region immediately.”
Iran writes to UN
So far, ten people have been killed in the protests. United States President Donald Trump on Friday threatened that if Tehran “violently kills peaceful protesters, Washington will come to their rescue.”
Following the threat, Iran’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Amir Saeid Iravani, has written to UN Secretary-General António Guterres and the President of the UN Security Council, Samuel Žbogar, urging them to condemn Trump’s “unlawful threats” towards Tehran.
The secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, Ali Larijani, has said that US interference “is equivalent to chaos across the entire region and the destruction of American interests.”
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