President Trump says Iran is no longer killing protesters
President Donald Trump has insisted that Iran has stopped killing protesters and vowed to take strong action if executions resume.
The death toll from Iran’s government crackdown on nationwide protests continues to rise as authorities and aid groups gain access to information amid internet blackouts.
Since the protests began three weeks ago, President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened military intervention, including possible attacks, unless Iran stops violence against anti-government protesters. “The time has come to find a new leader for Iran,” the president said in an interview with Politico on January 17.
President Trump and U.S. officials exchanged other expletives and accusations over the weekend as aid groups released an updated report tracking the extent of the unrest. But President Trump has changed his approach from time to time, indicating a willingness to negotiate with Iranian leaders. He said last week that authorities had stopped killing anti-government protesters.
Here’s what you need to know as the demo continues:
What is happening in Iran?
Iranians took to the streets in late December as their country’s currency, the rial, suddenly collapsed and inflation rose to more than 40%. Economic pressure has reignited longstanding discontent with the Islamic Republic’s clergy, sparking the country’s most extensive civil unrest in years.
The protests and violent response are reminiscent of the “Women, Lives and Freedom” protests that rocked the country in 2022 and 2023 in the wake of Mahsa Amini’s death. A 22-year-old woman was detained on suspicion of violating the dress code and died in police custody.
Iranian leaders have accused the United States and Israel of inciting the ongoing demonstrations. The clergy regularly blames insecurity on foreign enemies.
Several major human rights and monitoring organizations condemned violence against demonstrators by government forces. The UN’s independent fact-finding mission in Iran said in a statement on January 10 that it had received reports that security forces had been ordered to respond “firmly” without detaining protesters.
Reuters reported on January 18 that residents and state media said the violence appeared to have largely subsided due to the government’s violent crackdown.
Tensions between President Trump and Iranian leaders remain high
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei said in a speech on January 17 that President Trump was a “criminal” and was responsible for the deaths and injuries of protesters who supported the protests. The same day, the US president said in an interview with Politico that the country needed “new leadership.”
“His crime as the leader of a country was to completely destroy this country and use a level of violence we have never seen before,” Trump said.
In response, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian personally rebuked Trump on social media and defended Khamenei.
“Any attack against our country’s supreme leader is tantamount to an all-out war against the Iranian nation,” he said in a Jan. 18 post.
“If the Iranian people are facing difficulties and difficulties in their lives, one of the main reasons is the long-standing hostility and inhuman sanctions imposed by the United States government and its allies,” he said.
The Trump administration last week urged U.S. citizens to leave Iran immediately and began withdrawing some personnel from the Middle East’s largest air base in Qatar, the country’s news agency said.
How many protesters have been killed in Iran?
More than 3,700 people have been killed since the protests began, according to the latest figures from the Human Rights Activist News Agency, a US-based human rights group.
Norway-based group Iran Human Rights Group said it had recorded more than 3,400 deaths related to the violence, calling the death toll “absolutely minimal” as it continues to collect and verify information. A government-imposed internet blackout has cut off much communication with people in the country since January 8, disrupting the flow of information.
Various human rights reports from the two groups and the Iranian Center for Human Rights document dozens of eyewitness and first-hand reports of authorities using brutality and deadly force against demonstrators.
Iran has not released official statistics but has acknowledged heavy casualties in recent days. In a description of a weekend speech posted on Khamenei’s official website, the leader blamed the United States for thousands of deaths.
Contributed by: Reuters.
Kathryn Palmer is USA TODAY’s political reporter. She can be reached at the following address: kapalmer@usatoday.com And to X@Kathryn Purml. Sign up for her daily politics newsletter here.
