Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei accused the US and Israel on 17 January of direct responsibility for the deaths of “several thousand” people during weeks of riots in Iran.
Speaking in a nationally broadcast address, Khamenei said actors “linked to Israel and the US caused massive damages and killed several thousand” during protests that began on 28 December in cities across Iran.
“We do consider the US president a criminal, because of casualties and damages, because of accusations against the Iranian nation,” he stressed.
“The latest anti-Iran sedition was different in that the US president personally became involved,” Khamenei said, adding that Washington and Tel Aviv were directing events on the ground.
“We will not drag the country into war, but we will not let domestic or international criminals go unpunished,” the Iranian leader highlighted.
The speech marked the first time Iran’s top authority publicly cited casualties in the thousands following weeks of unrest.
Khamenei also said that the violent foreign-backed rioters burned more than 250 mosques and medical facilities, with Iranian officials saying about 3,000 people have been arrested.
Authorities maintain that the protests began as a genuine expression of grievances over a manufactured currency collapse. These were later “hijacked” by armed groups “equipped, financed, and trained” by foreign powers.
Earlier this month, Iranian authorities said they arrested a Mossad agent embedded among violent protesters, with Iranian media reporting that the detainee confessed to being recruited and directed via social media during unrest tied to sanctions-driven economic collapse.
A Reuters report on 14 January 2026 revealed that Kurdish separatist fighters were dispatched from Iraq and Turkiye toward Iran to exploit the unrest.
After days of near-total blackout, limited SMS and internet services were partially restored across the Islamic Republic as the unrest subsided.