“It’s time to look for new leadership in Iran,” U.S. President Donald Trump told Politico on Saturday, after being read a series of posts made earlier by Iranian dictator Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on X.
“The man is a sick man who should run his country properly and stop killing people. His country is the worst place to live anywhere in the world because of poor leadership,” Trump added.
The Iranian regime went on a killing spree over the past week to suppress the anti-government protests that broke out nationwide on Dec. 28.
U.S.-based Iranian Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported 3,090 fatalities, with 3,882 additional cases under review.
“At least 2,055 people have been reported with severe injuries, and the number of arrests has risen to 22,123,” HRANA reported on Friday.
Iran International reported a death toll as high as 12,000, citing initial estimates by the Islamic Republic’s security institutions.
The crackdown began after Tehran imposed an internet shutdown on Jan 8.
Speaking to Politico on Saturday, Trump went on to charge Khamenei with “the complete destruction of the country [Iran] and the use of violence at levels never seen before. In order to keep the country functioning—even though that function is a very low level—the leadership should focus on running his country properly, like I do with the United States, and not killing people by the thousands in order to keep control. Leadership is about respect, not fear and death.”
On Jan. 13, Trump on Truth Social urged the Iranians who took to the streets en masse to “keep protesting—take over your institutions!!! … help is on its way.”
On the following day, however, the president changed his tune, saying that he was told the killings would stop.
Tehran’s alleged decision not to execute 800 protesters made him change course. “Nobody convinced me [not to attack Iran]. I convinced myself. You had yesterday scheduled over 800 hangings. They didn’t hang anyone. They canceled the hangings. That had a big impact,” Trump told reporters outside the White House when asked about his decision, according to AFP.
“I greatly respect the fact that all scheduled hangings, which were to take place yesterday [over 800 of them], have been cancelled by the leadership of Iran. Thank you!” Trump wrote earlier on Friday on Truth Social.
