Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei calls anti-government protesters saboteurs trying to please Trump

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called anti-government protesters “troublemakers” and “a bunch of saboteurs” who were just trying to “please the president of the United States.”

He accused the crowd of destroying the building because Donald Trump said he “had your back.” Trump later told reporters at the White House that Iran was “in big trouble.”

The protests broke out on their 13th day over economic issues and have grown into the largest in years, sparking calls for an end to the Islamic republic and some urging the restoration of the monarchy.

At least 48 protesters and 14 security personnel were killed, according to human rights groups. The internet is down.

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

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

The comments echoed those the U.S. president made to the Iranian government on Thursday, promising to “hit them hard” if they “start killing people.”

Khamenei remained defiant in a televised speech on Friday.

“Let everyone know that the Islamic Republic came to power through the blood of hundreds of thousands of respectable people and will not back down in the face of those who deny this,” the 86-year-old said.

In addition to the 48 protesters killed since the protests began on December 28, more than 2,277 people have been arrested, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).

The Norway-based Iranian Human Rights Organization (IHRNGO) said at least 51 protesters were killed, including nine children.

BBC Persian has spoken to the families of 22 of them and confirmed their identities. The BBC and most other international news organizations are banned from reporting within Iran.

The leaders of Britain, Germany and France said in a joint statement that they were “deeply concerned by reports of violence by Iranian security forces and strongly condemn the killing of protesters”.

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

United Nations spokesman Stefan Dujarric said the United Nations was deeply troubled by the loss of life. “People anywhere in the world have the right to demonstrate peacefully, and governments have a responsibility to protect that right and ensure that it is respected,” he said.

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

Iran’s National Security Council, which is responsible for domestic security and is not to be confused with Iran’s National Security Council, said it would “take decisive and necessary legal action” against the protesters, calling them “armed saboteurs” and “destructors of peace and security.”

In a brief statement, it warned against “any form of attack on military, law enforcement or government facilities.” Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) intelligence service said it would not tolerate so-called “terrorist acts” and claimed it would continue operations “until the enemy’s plans completely fail.”

Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran’s last king who was overthrown by the 1979 Islamic Revolution, called on Trump on Friday to “be prepared to intervene to help the Iranian people.”

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

Protests are taking place across the country and BBC verify is verifying footage from 67 locations.

Video verified by BBC Persian and BBC Verify showed protesters gathering in the southeastern city of Zahedan on Friday after weekly prayers. In one of the videos, people can be heard chanting “Death to the dictator,” a reference to Khamenei.

In another incident, several loud bangs could be heard as protesters gathered near a local mosque.

Another verified video on Thursday showed a fire breaking out at the offices of the Young Journalists Club, a subsidiary of state broadcaster Irib, in the city of Isfahan. It’s unclear what caused the fire and whether anyone was injured.

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

Internet monitoring groups Cloudfare and Netblocks said the country’s internet had been almost completely outage since Thursday night, with a small amount of traffic restored on Friday. This means that there is less and less information coming out of Iran.

“The level of government use of force against protesters has been increasing, and the risk of increased violence and mass killings of protesters following an internet shutdown is very serious,” IHRNGO director Mahmoud Amiri Moghadam said in a statement.

Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi has warned of a “bloodbath” that could occur during internet shutdowns.

One person who was able to send information to the BBC said he was in Shiraz in southern Iran. He reported that residents were flocking to supermarkets in an attempt to stock up on food and other necessities, anticipating the situation would be worse.

The internet shutdown means cash machines don’t work and stores that don’t accept debit cards due to a lack of internet are unable to pay for purchases.

Mahsa Alimardani, who works for human rights NGO Witness, told the BBC in London that she had been unable to contact her family since Thursday evening.

“It’s very anxiety-provoking, not having access to information, not knowing if your loved one attended (the protests) or if they’re OK,” she said.

The protests began nearly two weeks ago with shopkeepers in Tehran angry about the collapse of the currency and then spread to students and street demonstrations.

The last large-scale protests occurred in 2022, when demonstrations broke out after the death of Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish woman in custody. She was allegedly detained by moral police for not wearing her headscarf correctly.

According to human rights groups, more than 550 people were killed within months and 20,000 were detained by security forces.

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