Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei said on the 17th (local time) that U.S. President Donald Trump is responsible for the loss of life and property damage related to the large anti-government protests.
According to AFP and dpa, Khamenei said, "We find the U.S. president guilty of deaths and damage from the (protests) and of slandering the Iranian nation." He also said, "This is a U.S. conspiracy," and explained, "The United States' goal is to swallow Iran. That goal is to put Iran back under military, political and economic domination."
In Iran, large anti-government protests have been ongoing for several weeks since the end of last month. As the government took a hard-line response, an estimated more than 3,000 people related to the protests have died. President Trump also hinted at the possibility of military intervention in connection with the bloody crackdown.
Ayatollah Khamenei, who claims the "archenemies" the United States and Israel are behind the protests, said, "We will not drag the country into war, but we will not leave the criminals at home unattended and we will not leave international criminals unpunished."