At least 5,000 people have been killed in protests in Iran, including about 500 security personnel, an Iranian official in the region said on Sunday, citing verified figures and accusing “terrorists and armed rioters” of killing “innocent Iranians.”
Nationwide protests erupted on Dec. 28 over economic hardship and swelled over two weeks into widespread demonstrations calling for the end of clerical rule — resulting in the deadliest unrest since Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution.
U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to intervene if protesters continued to be killed on the streets or were executed. In a social media post on Friday, he thanked Tehran’s leaders, saying they had called off scheduled executions of 800 people.
A day later, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a public speech, branded Trump a “criminal” for the casualties he inflicted on Iran by supporting protesters.
“We will not drag the country into war, but we will not let domestic or international criminals go unpunished,” Khamenei said, acknowledging “several thousand deaths” that he blamed on “terrorists and rioters” linked to the U.S. and Israel.
