Iran Taunts Trump, Promises More Intense Crackdown
“Trump always talks a lot of nonsense,” top Tehran prosecutor says; the regime won’t halt executions.
While President Donald Trump appears to have backed away from a military action against Tehran, Iran’s leadership is taunting him and promising to intensify the crackdown.
On Saturday, Iran’s ruler, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, called President Trump a “criminal” and blamed him for the weeks-long protests. “We hold the American president guilty for the casualties, damages and accusations he has levelled against the Iranian nation,” Khamenei told his supporters during a televised address.
Khamenei called the ongoing nationwide uprising “an American conspiracy,” telling the regime forces to “break the back” of the anti-regime opposition.
In recent weeks, President Trump has repeatedly warned the regime, vowing “very strong action” if it goes ahead with executing protesters. But on Friday, he thanked the regime in a statement, assuring that Tehran had halted planned mass public executions.
Today #Iran's regime's supreme leader gave public remarks where he labeled President Trump a "criminal" and blamed him for the protests–which is classic Khamenei as it's always a conspiracy and externalizes events to deflect blame–where he admitted "several thousands" were… pic.twitter.com/EjpAioPTld
— Jason Brodsky (@JasonMBrodsky) January 17, 2026
Reuters reported Khamenei’s remarks:
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday blamed President Donald Trump for weeks of demonstrations that rights groups said have led to more than 3,000 deaths.
“We consider the U.S. president criminal for the casualties, damages and slander he inflicted on the Iranian nation,” Khamenei said, according to Iranian state media. (…)
In comments that appeared to respond to Trump, Khamenei said: “We will not drag the country into war, but we will not let domestic or international criminals go unpunished,” state media reported.
Iran’s ultimate authority Khamenei said “several thousand deaths” had happened during the nationwide protests, which are Iran’s worst unrest in years. He accused Iran’s longtime enemies the U.S. and Israel of organising the violence.
“Those linked to Israel and the U.S. caused massive damage and killed several thousand,” he said, adding that they started fires, destroyed public property and incited chaos. They “committed crimes and a grave slander,” he said.
“Trump always talks a lot of nonsense,” top Tehran prosecutor says; regime won’t halt executions
Meanwhile, a senior Iranian regime official, on Saturday, rejected the president’s assertion that the regime had “cancelled” 800 executions. “Trump always talks a lot of nonsense,” Tehran’s Prosecutor General, Ali Salehi, said. “Our response is firm, deterrent, and swift, and a large number of our cases have now resulted in indictments being issued and have been sent to court.”
Regime in Iran responds to president @realDonaldTrump with threat of execution 800 protesters.
Ali Salehi, Tehran’s chief prosecutor, dismissed comments by Donald Trump regarding a reported halt to executions, saying Iran’s response would be “firm, deterrent, and swift.”
Islamic… pic.twitter.com/0jwUyIq0vt— Masih Alinejad 🏳️ (@AlinejadMasih) January 17, 2026
On Friday, a senior cleric and regime official demanded the mass execution of jailed protesters.
According to the latest estimates, the regime forces had arrested around 20,000 people during the protests. The regime plans summary trials to put thousands of protesters to death, rights groups fear.
“Human rights organizations fear the number of people killed during protests in Iran could quickly rise as thousands of protesters now held in prisons and detention centers may be at imminent risk of execution,” Germany’s DW TV reported Wednesday.
The London-based Iran International news outlet reported:
Tehran’s Friday prayer leader Ahmad Khatami called for the execution of detained protesters and the arrest of anyone who supported the protests, delivering the remarks during his Friday sermon.
Khatami, a hardline cleric appointed by Iran’s Supreme Leader, accused protesters of acting on behalf of foreign powers, calling them “servants” of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and “soldiers of Trump.”
“They should await a harsh retaliation from the government. Americans and Zionists should not expect peace,” Khatami said. “The demonstrators were servants of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and soldiers of Trump.”
Trump: ‘It’s time to look for new leadership in Iran’ (update)
President Trump, on Saturday, told Politico that it was time “for a new leadership in Iran.”
The news website reported:
President Donald Trump on Saturday called for an end to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s 37-year reign.
“It’s time to look for new leadership in Iran,” Trump told POLITICO, as widespread protests calling for an end to the regime appear to have waned.
Regime forces have massacred between 12,000 and 15,000 people, opposition groups claim. The regime has reportedly deployed Hezbollah and other foreign fighters, besides the loyalist Basij militia, to crush the uprising.
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Comments
does iran fund blmplo in the usa?
We have reason to believe the Democrat Crime Cabal and Soros are still stealing tax dollars for various NGO’s
Don’t forget the CCP money going to the NGOs, or ignore Singham.
Hope Trump cracks down on them good and hard. They deserve to be ousted and executed themselves a la Saddam.
we can hope, but if Trump is too chicken to crack down on Minneapolis, Iran knows that it has nothing to fear
What is going through Ayatollah’s mind right now:
(1) MarkS is correct. Trump is bluffing. I have nothing to fear
(2) The handwriting is on the wall. I’m screwed. Time to pack my bags
Rocket scientists, these guys… 🙂 🙂 🙂
#FAFO
Trump betrayed the freedom movement in Iran,
https://jihadwatch.org/2026/01/daniel-greenfield-video-the-betrayal-of-the-iranian-people
Yes, something is not right. I don’t think he wanted to get bogged down in the ME, have to put boots on the ground
All before midterms
If he’s not going to help these people, he needs to shit up amd stop encouraging them to riot
I don’t think taunting will be a good strategy.
I’d take out that state prosecutor just to make a point that the Iranian leadership continues to live only because we allow them to.
I suspect he will be black bagged by Monday.
Trmp did the same thing with Hamas four times. He said all hell will break if the hostages are not released by this weekend. The weekend came and went. He then threatened them unless they took his proposal to end the war in 72 hours. Days past as they hemmed and hawed and then a week later offered to negotiate. To the world at large, Trump must act on this genocide and stop threatening after he prodded them to continue. I know it is difficult to act on man to man killings but he could destroy anything military or police and threaten them with annihiltion.
You can tell by his white beard that Khamenei dyes his afro.
Trump is not going to do anything unless he is sure it will work. Look at what he did to Maduro. Many months of patient planning and slowly tightening the noose around Venezuela, then he drops the sledgehammer. My bet is he lets things develop, and when Tehran actually runs out of water, that is when the regime’s end game really begins. What we just saw were just preliminary skirmishes. We are not even through the first quarter of the game.