Time to seek new leadership in Iran: Trump in response to Khamenei's accusations
Kyiv • UNN
US President Donald Trump said it was time to seek new leadership in Iran, accusing Ayatollah Khamenei of destroying the country. This came after Khamenei accused Trump of being responsible for the violence in Iran.
US President Donald Trump on Saturday, January 17, called for an end to the 37-year rule of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. This was reported by Politico, writes UNN.
Details
"It's time to seek new leadership in Iran," Trump told Politico amid what appeared to be waning mass protests demanding an end to the regime's rule.
Thousands of protesters have been killed across the country in the past three weeks, prompting Trump to repeatedly threaten military intervention. On Tuesday, Trump called on Iranians to continue protesting and "take control of institutions," saying that "help is on the way."
The next day, the president sharply changed his position, announcing that he had been informed of a halt to the killings.
"The best decision he ever made was not to hang over 800 people two days ago," Trump said on Saturday, when asked about the possible scale of a US military operation in Iran.
Trump's statements came shortly after Khamenei's X account posted a series of hostile messages directed at Trump, accusing the US president of responsibility for deadly violence and unrest in Iran.
"We hold the US president responsible for the casualties, damage, and slander he has inflicted on the Iranian people," Khamenei wrote.
In another post, he stated that Trump falsely presented violent groups as allegedly representing the Iranian people, calling it an "outrageous slander."
Trump, after being read these posts, said that Tehran's rulers rely on repression and violence. "What he is guilty of as a country's leader is the complete destruction of the country and the use of violence at levels never seen before," Trump said. "For a country to function—even if it's a very low level of functioning—the leadership must focus on properly governing its state, as I do with the United States, and not kill thousands of people to maintain control."
"Leadership is about respect, not fear and death," Trump added.
Politico notes that this exchange of statements underscores the escalating rhetoric between Washington and Tehran at a volatile moment for the region, and also against the backdrop of Khamenei's recent public address, in which he stated that "the Iranian nation has defeated America."
Trump went further, moving to personal assessments, condemning Khamenei and the Iranian system of government.
"This man is a sick man who should be governing his country properly and stop killing people," Trump said. "His country is the worst place to live in the world because of bad leadership."