Trump calls for new leadership in Iran after Khamenei blames US for protest deaths

Bangla Press Desk:  US President Donald Trump on Saturday said Iran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei should run the country properly and stop killing people after the Shitte leader blamed Washington for the recent deadly protests in the Middle East country.

In response to Khamenei’s allegations, Trump also called for an end to the Iranian’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.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding Trump’s remarks.

Thousands of protesters across the country were killed over the last three weeks, prompting Trump to repeatedly threaten military intervention. On Tuesday, Trump called on Iranians to keep protesting and “take over institutions,” saying that “help is on its way.”

The next day, the president abruptly changed course, saying he had been informed that the killings had stopped.

“The best decision Khamenei ever made was not hanging more than 800 people two days ago,” Trump said Saturday, when asked about the size of a possible US military operation in Iran.

However, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was not impressed enough by Trump’s appreciation. On Saturday, the Iranian leader delivered a defiant address in which he accused Trump of encouraging “agitators,” and said that Iran considers Trump “a criminal, both for the casualties, for the damages, and for the slander directed at the Iranian nation.”

He said key agitators had been detained, and the country’s semiofficial Fars news agency said protests had largely subsided.

Trump, after being read Khamenei’s posts, said Tehran’s rulers rely on repression and violence to govern.

“What he is guilty of, as the leader of a country, is the complete destruction of the country and the use of violence at levels never seen before,” Trump said. “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,” Trump added.

Trump also called Khamenei “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 said.

A spokesperson for Iran’s permanent mission to the United Nations declined to comment on Trump’s remarks.

BP/SP