The Supreme Leader warned against foreign enemies and reiterated the threat that the authorities would crack down on unrest.
Published on January 9, 2026
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has called for “unity” in the face of “terrorist activities” as mass protests rock the country.
In a speech broadcast on Iranian state TV on Friday, Khamenei warned against the protests, which officials see as a plot by foreign enemies, mainly the United States, and reiterated threats that officials would crack down on the unrest.
Khamenei accused the protesters of acting on behalf of US President Donald Trump, saying the rioters were attacking public property and warned that Tehran would not tolerate people being treated as “mercenaries for foreigners”. He accused Trump of having Iranian blood on his hands.
Tehran is struggling to gain control of the situation, which has killed dozens of demonstrators and at least four members of the security forces since the protests began on December 28.
President Massoud Pezheshkian has called for restraint and for the state to listen to “genuine” complaints, while other voices have warned that the authorities will show no leniency, a view that has received support from “foreign enemies”.
cut off
A sharp fall in the rial currency sparked protests by Tehran’s shopkeepers over economic hardship.
Authorities shut down internet access on Thursday to quell the protests. The blackout remained in place on Friday, while phone systems were also down and airlines canceled flights in and out of the country.
However, videos shared by activists showed protesters around fires chanting slogans against the government as garbage littered the streets of the capital, Tehran and elsewhere.
Breaking silence on Friday’s protests, Iran’s state media alleged that “terrorist agents” of the US and Israel started the fires and fueled the violence. It is also said to be “fatal” without explanation.
Trump repeated a threat on Thursday that his country would not allow Tehran to kill protesters.
Iran “has been told very strongly … that if they do this, they will pay hell,” he told an interviewer.
However, the President of the United States Dr Rejected A meeting with Reza Pahlavi, Iran’s self-proclaimed “crown prince,” suggested Washington was unwilling to back a successor to the government in Tehran, should it collapse.
Pahlavi, the son of Iran’s last shah, who was deposed by the 1979 Islamic revolution, has called for more protests.
Pahlavi’s call “turned the tide” of the protests, Holly Daggers, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told The Associated Press, adding that social media posts showed Iranians were “taking this call seriously to protest the removal of the Islamic Republic.”
“That’s why the internet was shut down: to prevent the world from seeing the protests,” she added. “Unfortunately, the security forces may have also been given cover to kill the protesters.”
Referring to Trump, Khamenei said in his TV address that the protesters were “destroying their own roads to please the president of another country”.
“Death to America!” The audience was heard chanting.