Washington 17 January 2026

17 January 2026

Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei remarked: “The U.S. president openly encouraged the rioters, and behind the scenes, the U.S. and the Zionist regime [ie, Israel] provided them with assistance; therefore, we consider the U.S. president a criminal, both for the casualties and damage, and for the slander he levelled against the Iranian nation.” He also claimed that agents linked to Israel and the U.S. caused significant damage to property and killed “several thousand” people. Referring to Khamenei, President Trump said: “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. 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 U.S., and not killing people by the thousands in order to keep control”. He added: “It’s time to look for new leadership in Iran”.