Iran’s Khamenei says rioters ‘must be put in their place’ amid protests

Supreme leader says authorities should only ‘talk to protesters’, not rioters, as antigovernment demonstrations grow.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has insisted that “rioters must be put in their place” after a week of protests that have shaken the Islamic Republic.

The first comments by 86-year-old Khamenei on Saturday come as violence surrounding the demonstrations over Iran’s ailing economy has killed at least 10 people.

The protests show no sign of stopping and come as United States President Donald Trump threatened Iran on Friday that if Tehran “violently kills peaceful protesters”, Washington “will come to their rescue”.

While it remains unclear how and if Trump will intervene, especially in the wake of a huge US military attack on Venezuela and the purported capture of its President Nicolas Maduro, his comments led to an immediate, angry response from Iranian officials.

Iran’s United Nations Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani has written to the UN secretary-general and the president of the UN Security Council, urging them to condemn “unlawful threats” towards Tehran from Trump.

Ali Larijani, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, has said that US interference “is equivalent to chaos across the entire region and the destruction of American interests”.

The protests have become the biggest in Iran since 2022, when the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody triggered nationwide demonstrations.

Speaking to an audience in Tehran, state television aired remarks by Khamenei that sought to separate the concerns of protesting Iranians, upset about the rial’s collapse, from “rioters”.

“We talk to protesters, the officials must talk to them,” Khamenei said. “But there is no benefit to talking to rioters. Rioters must be put in their place.”

He reiterated a claim constantly made by officials in Iran, that foreign powers like Israel or the US were pushing the protests, without offering any evidence. He also blamed “the enemy” for Iran’s collapsing rial.

“A bunch of people incited or hired by the enemy are getting behind the tradesmen and shopkeepers and chanting slogans against Islam, Iran and the Islamic Republic,” he said. “This is what matters most.”

Khamenei also said the US “must and will leave” the region.

Economic downturn

“With the determination of the region’s nations, America must and will leave this region,” he said.

Iran’s civilian government under reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian has been trying to signal it wants to negotiate with protesters.

Tehran has had little luck in propping up its economy in the months since its June war with Israel, in which the US also bombed nuclear sites in Iran.

Iran recently said it was no longer enriching uranium at any site in the country, trying to signal to the West that it remains open to potential negotiations over its atomic programme to ease sanctions.

However, those talks have yet to happen as Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have not only threatened Tehran against reconstituting its nuclear programme, but now have Iran’s missile programme in their crosshairs.