Iran Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei calls Donald Trump a criminal, blames US president for casualties

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has confirmed that “several thousand people” have died in this month’s anti-government demonstrations, his first acknowledgment of the deadly scale of the unrest.

Some of those were killed “brutally and inhumanely,” Khamenei said, without offering detail, in a public meeting broadcast on state TV on Saturday. He accused the US and Israel of aiding the killings and said the Islamic Republic has evidence to support the claim.

Khamenei said Iran doesn’t intend to push the country toward war, but won’t allow either domestic or international criminals to go unpunished.

He said US President Donald Trump was culpable for “deaths, damage, and accusations he has inflicted on the Iranian people,” and that Washington’s broader policy goal was to place Iran under military, political, and economic domination.

The toll suggested was in line with estimates from human rights groups and others that some 3,500 people had perished. The groups estimate that more than 22,000 people have been detained.

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The protests have taken place during a record-long internet blackout for Iran’s population of about 92 million people.

Earlier, local media reported that internet connectivity had been partially restored, even as most residents appeared to remain largely cut off from the outside world for a ninth day.

Iran’s government shut down internet and mobile phone services on January 8 to quell rising unrest sparked by a currency crisis late last month.