Iran’s leader says rioters ‘must be put in their place’
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday said “rioters must be put in their place” after a week of protests shaking the Islamic Republic, comments likely seen as a green light for security forces to aggressively quell demonstrations.
The remarks by the 86-year-old leader came as violence linked to protests over Iran’s struggling economy has killed at least 10 people. The unrest shows no sign of abating and follows a warning by US President Donald Trump that if Tehran “violently kills peaceful protesters,” the United States “will come to their rescue.”
While it remains unclear how or if Trump would intervene, his comments drew an immediate and angry response from Iranian officials, some of whom threatened to target American troops in the Middle East. The comments gained further attention after Trump claimed Saturday that the US military had captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, a close ally of Tehran.
The protests are the largest in Iran since 2022, when the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody sparked nationwide demonstrations. However, the current unrest has not yet matched the scale or intensity of those protests, which erupted after Amini was detained for allegedly not wearing her hijab to authorities’ satisfaction.
In his first public comments on the demonstrations, aired on state television, Khamenei distinguished between protesters angered by the rial’s collapse and what he called “rioters.”
“We talk to protesters, the officials must talk to them,” he said. “But there is no benefit to talking to rioters. Rioters must be put in their place.” He also blamed foreign powers like the United States and Israel for the unrest without evidence and alleged that people “incited or hired by the enemy” were provoking shopkeepers and chanting slogans against Islam and the Islamic Republic.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, which answers directly to Khamenei, includes the volunteer Basij force that has violently suppressed past protests, including the 2009 Green Movement and the 2022 demonstrations. Hard-line factions are pressing for tougher action, even as President Masoud Pezeshkian has signalled openness to dialogue.
Past crackdowns have been deadly.
Protests over fuel hikes in 2019 reportedly killed more than 300, while the 2022 crackdown left over 500 dead and more than 22,000 detained.
“Iran has no organised domestic opposition; protesters are likely acting spontaneously,” Eurasia Group said. “While protests could grow, the regime retains a large security apparatus and is likely to suppress dissent without losing control.”