Iran's President, Masoud Pezeshkian, issued a stark warning on Sunday, stating that any attack on the country's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, would be considered a declaration of war. This statement appears to be a direct response to mounting speculation that former US President Donald Trump is contemplating an attempt to assassinate or remove Khamenei from power.
A Stark Warning and Rising Tensions
In a post on the social media platform X, President Pezeshkian declared that "an attack on the great leader of our country is tantamount to a full-scale war with the Iranian nation." This public threat underscores the severe escalation in rhetoric between the two long-standing adversaries.
The Iranian leader also placed blame for the recent domestic unrest squarely on the United States. He asserted that if the Iranian people face hardship, a primary cause is the "longstanding hostility and inhumane sanctions imposed by the US government and its allies." This came as Trump, in a Saturday interview with Politico, called for an end to Khamenei's nearly four-decade rule, labelling him "a sick man who should run his country properly and stop killing people."
Unrest, Crackdown, and International Diplomacy
The latest wave of protests in Iran began on 28 December, fuelled by anger over soaring inflation and economic collapse. What started as demonstrations over living costs rapidly evolved into broad anti-government protests. The authorities responded on 8 January with a near-total internet blackout to suppress communication and obscure the scale of the unrest.
Last Tuesday, Trump urged Iranians to continue protesting, telling them "help is on its way." The situation reached a critical point last Wednesday, when the US came extremely close to launching military strikes on Iran but ultimately pulled back. According to reports from Axios, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Trump that Israel was unprepared for Iranian retaliation, and Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman urged restraint.
An Iranian official, speaking anonymously, indicated that some of the heaviest clashes and highest death tolls occurred in Kurdish areas in the country's northwest. The Human Rights Activists news agency reported that 24,348 protesters had been arrested in the government crackdown.
Human Cost and Fragile Calm
The human cost of the unrest is severe. An Iranian official stated on Sunday that at least 5,000 people have been killed, including about 500 security personnel. For the first time, Supreme Leader Khamenei acknowledged that thousands had died, some "in an inhuman, savage manner," while blaming the US for the death toll.
One focal point was the case of Erfan Soltani, a 26-year-old protester sentenced to death. After Trump claimed credit for halting scheduled executions, Soltani's family confirmed he was alive but expressed grave concerns about torture and lack of medical care in custody.
While no major street protests have been reported for days, an uneasy calm prevails. Instead, witnesses reported anti-Khamenei chants echoing from residential windows in Tehran, Shiraz, and Isfahan on Saturday night. Monitors also noted a partial restoration of internet access, though heavily filtered, marking a slight shift in the state's information blockade.
