Iran’s supreme leader signaled Friday that Tehran would crack down hard on protesters who have demonstrated against the theocratic regime for nearly two weeks after dramatic images showed riots breaking out across the country Thursday night. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 86, condemned what he called “a bunch of rioters [who] destroyed a public building just to please the president of the United States.”
“Iranians must maintain their unity,” added Khamenei in remarks aired on state television to an audience chanting “Death to America!” “Let everyone know that the Islamic Republic came to power [in 1979] with the blood of hundreds of thousands of honorable people,” the supreme leader added. “Iran will not tolerate mercenaries working in the interests of foreigners.” Iran’s judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei separately vowed that punishment for protesters “will be decisive, maximum and without any legal leniency.”
