President Donald Trump has called for “new leadership” in Iran after reading a series of social media posts from the country’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, on Saturday, POLITICO reported.
The remarks represent the latest in a series of sharp shifts in tone from the president with regard to Iran’s leadership in the last week, as he has weighed military intervention in response to a crackdown that has killed thousands of protesters.
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Trump’s comments came during an interview with POLITICO in which he was read a series of posts from Khamenei on X on Saturday that blamed Trump for the deaths of protesters in Iran.
“It’s time to look for new leadership in Iran,” he said.
Read more: What’s Happening in Iran Right Now, Explained
“What he is guilty of, as the leader of a country, is the complete destruction of the country and the use of violence at levels never seen before,” Trump continued. “In order to keep the country functioning — even though that function is a very low level — the leadership should focus on running his country properly, like I do with the United States, and not killing people by the thousands in order to keep control.”
In a series of missives posted on Saturday, Khamenei blamed Trump for the violence in Iran and said the U.S. “must be held accountable.”
“We find the US President guilty due to the casualties, damages and slander he inflicted upon the Iranian nation,” Khamenei wrote.
“The US had made extensive preparations to orchestrate this sedition. This sedition was a prelude to even bigger schemes. The Iranian nation defeated the US,” he wrote in another.
It is not clear who read the posts to Trump, but the president’s reaction is a sign of the fragility of the current peace between the U.S. and Iran. Trump said he had been presented with a number of “very strong options” to strike Iran this week after the death toll from the crackdown on protests reached the thousands.
On Tuesday, it appeared Trump was on the brink of authorizing strikes when he told protesters that “help was on its way.”
“Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING – TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!!” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “Save the names of the killers and abusers. They will pay a big price. I have cancelled all meetings with Iranian Officials until the senseless killing of protesters STOPS. HELP IS ON ITS WAY.”
By Friday, Trump’s tone suddenly changed when he thanked Iran’s leaders for apparently cancelling 800 executions, without providing evidence.
“I greatly respect the fact that all scheduled hangings, which were to take place yesterday (Over 800 of them), have been cancelled by the leadership of Iran. Thank you!” Trump posted Friday on Truth Social.
The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, or HRANA, said it had verified 3,090 deaths, including 2,885 protesters, and over 22,000 arrests.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
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