Khamenei Admits 'Thousands' Killed in Iran Protests as He Brands Trump a 'Criminal'

In a rare moment of admission, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has publicly acknowledged what human rights organisations have been documenting with mounting horror: the government's crackdown on nationwide protests has left thousands dead.

Yet in the same breath, Khamenei has levelled an extraordinary accusation at US President Donald Trump, blaming the American leader for the very bloodshed his government has unleashed. The admission, delivered during a speech on Saturday, marks a pivotal moment in a catastrophe that has been unfolding under a near-total internet blackout, rendering independent verification nearly impossible.

The protests, which erupted on 28 December over economic hardship, have evolved into the largest uprising against Iran's clerical regime since the 1979 revolution. Yet the scale of the government's response has been staggering. According to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), at least 3,090 people have been killed, with some activist groups putting the figure far higher. Iran International, a London-based news organisation, reported last week that at least 12,000 people were killed during the massacres of 8 and 9 January alone—a figure based on government sources, eyewitness accounts and hospital records. Some estimates suggest the death toll could reach 20,000.

The internet shutdown, imposed by authorities since 8 January, remains nearly total, with connectivity at just two per cent of normal levels. This digital isolation has served a dual purpose: it prevents the outside world from documenting the full scale of the violence, and it deepens the economic suffering that sparked the protests in the first place. On Saturday, authorities began a phased restoration of internet services, restoring SMS capability as a gesture towards normalcy.

Yet even as the killing has subsided, the political theatre has escalated. Khamenei's Saturday address represents a calculated exercise in blame-shifting, and his targeting of Trump suggests a regime aware of its vulnerability.

Iran Protests: Khamenei's Extraordinary Accusation Against Trump

In his speech, Khamenei made a remarkable claim: that American President Trump bears direct responsibility for the deaths of thousands of Iranians. 'We consider the US president a criminal for the casualties and damage and for the insults to the Iranian nation,' Khamenei declared. He accused Trump of personally intervening in the unrest, inciting protesters to continue demonstrating and promising them military support.

'In this uprising, the US president made remarks in person, encouraged seditious people to go ahead and said: "We do support you, we do support you militarily,"' Khamenei recounted. He dismissed the protesters themselves as 'foot soldiers' of the United States, vandals bent on destroying mosques and schools. The narrative is familiar: the regime portrays internal dissent not as a genuine expression of popular grievance, but as a foreign conspiracy orchestrated by America.

What is striking about this accusation is not its novelty but its desperation. By positioning Trump as the architect of the unrest, Khamenei attempts to transform a catastrophic failure of governance into a matter of national security—shifting responsibility from the regime to the perceived enemy.

Iran Protests and US Response: A Dangerous Escalation

Trump, for his part, has been uncharacteristically inconsistent. Earlier in the crisis, he threatened military intervention. Last week, he claimed to have been assured that Iran was cancelling planned executions of detained protesters. Now, his administration has warned Tehran that any attack on American military bases would be met with 'a very, very powerful force'.

The standoff is genuinely dangerous. Khamenei's admission of mass killing, coupled with his refusal to accept responsibility, has left no room for de-escalation. The question now is whether the international community will allow this moment of acknowledged atrocity to pass unexamined.