Name: Iran's supreme leader vows to continue protest crackdown | BBC News
Uploaded: 2026-01-09T16:55:26.000Z
Duration: 5 min 39 s
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Iran's supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says that the Islamic Republic will not back down in the face of saboteurs in an address to his supporters.

In a televised address, he committed to cracking down on what he calls troublemakers and harmful people.

Participle clauses

He also said that President Trump's hands are stained with the blood of a thousand Iranians, referring to the 12 Day War with Israel.

Well, this morning there were gatherings in an undisclosed location in Iran in support of the government and the Ayatollah's regime.

It comes as large crowds of protesters have been marching through the Iranian capital, Tehran, in what's been described as some of the largest demonstrations against the ruling regime for more than 15 years.

What began as anger over a deepening economic crisis in the country has now also turned into calls for the overthrow of Iran's supreme leader.

In towns and cities across Iran, protesters have taken over the streets, tens of thousands of them in extraordina scenes posted on social media.

For days, there's been unrest in Iran sparked by an economic crisis.

But what's happening now, the numbers involved is on an altogether different scale.

Here in Mashad, Iran's holiest city, they're trying to destroy CCTV cameras used by the Iranian regime for surveillance.

And the chants are calling for an end to the Islamic Republic.

Many are also calling for the restoration of the monarchy, which was overthrown back in 1979.

In the capital, Tehran, huge crowds, apparently galvanized by calls from Reza Pahlavi, son of the late shah.

These are the largest protests there been since millions turned out to object to elections in 2009 that they saw as rigged.

One young woman who'd been out on the streets tonight told me the size of the demonstration was unbelievable.

And then, scared, she asked me to delete our online conversation.

Human rights groups have accused the security forces of using excessive force.

As the protests spread nationwide, with more and more people from all walks of life getting involved, it points to the widespread nature of anger, frustration and grievances across Iranian society.

I think the protests are adding to a cycle of protests that make clear that change is coming one way or another.

No one knows exactly where all this leads.

Now Donald Trump has again warned Iran it will be hit hard if people are killed.

Soon after these pictures emerged, the regime imposed a near total Internet blackout, cutting Iranians off from each other and the outside world.

Khazra Naji is from BBC Persia, and he explains the thinking from Iran's supreme leader.

He's doubling down on his policy of cracking down on what he calls troublemakers, saboteurs and so forth.

So no change of policy seems to be on his mind at the moment, given the fact that, you know, there are hundreds of thousands of people out on the streets of Tehran alone calling for his overthrow.

And then he also refers to the US President Donald Trump.

Donald Trump a few days ago and even last night went on television saying that if the Iranian government kills its people, we will intervene and we will hit them hard, according to President Trump.

And today Ayatollah Khamenei comes back to him saying that you cannot speak like this because your hands are in the blood of more than a thousand people in Iran.

He's referring to the 12 Day War in Iran, when Israeli planes and the US planes later bombed targets in Iran and some thousand people were killed.

And he says, you are in no position to say that you're siding with the people of Iran.

And he also warrants, he says that be aware that dictators, many of the dictators were toppled when they were at the height of their arrogance.

Many people in Iran might think that it applies to him too.

Is this the end of the Islamic Republic, as some people are saying, or some people are at least hoping?

It depends more on the Iranian government is going to react.

Ayatollah Khamenei, how he's going to react, judging by his temperament, by his general policies over the last 36 years that he's been in power, I don't get the impression that he's going to give up soon.

So there are fears that we might at one point, if these things go on, and

more important, more people come out of the street calling for his downfall and his overthrow, they might use pretty heavy handed sort of firing policy of shooting at people.