Rioters 'must be put in their place,' Iran's Khamenei says

Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Saturday that "rioters must be put in their place," after US President Donald Trump's announcement on Friday that Washington would “come to their rescue” if Tehran “violently kills peaceful protesters.”

Khamenei's comments come as 10 people have already died in the protests sparked by Iran’s struggling economy, the largest since those over the death of Mahsa Amini in 2022.

Trump's comments received an immediate response from the regime in Tehran, which has threatened to target US troops in the Middle East. Adding to the tension, on Saturday the US is said to have captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, a longtime ally of Tehran.

In remarks aired by state-run television, Khamenei told a Tehran audience that protests over the falling rial are not the same as rioting. “We talk to protesters, the officials must talk to them,” Khamenei said. “But there is no benefit to talking to rioters. Rioters must be put in their place.”

The 86-year-old ayatollah added that the protests were being pushed by external powers such as Israel and the US, without providing any evidence.

Khamenei also blamed the collapse of the rial on "the enemy," saying, “Many incited or hired by the enemy are getting behind the tradesmen and shopkeepers and chanting slogans against Islam, Iran and the Islamic Republic."

Overnight into Saturday, two more people were reportedly killed: one in the city of Qom following a grenade explosion, the man was allegedly carrying the grenade to attack people in the city, state-owned IRAN newspaper said, quoting security officials.

The other death was a member of the Basij, the volunteer arm of Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, in the town of Harsin, according to the newspaper.

The demonstrations have spread across 100 locations in 22 of Iran's 31 provinces, the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency reported.

Iran has seen deadly protests in recent years. In 2019, 300 people were killed in demonstrations over a gasoline price hike, and the 2022 Amini rallies resulted in the deaths of more than 500 people, while over 22,000 were detained.