In what appeared to be a response to President Trump's comment the day before to Politico that "It's time to look for new leadership in Iran," Masoud Pezeshkian blamed recent protests on the US and said an American attempt to remove Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would result in "a full-scale war with the Iranian nation," the Guardian reports. Also on Sunday, a US-based activist agency said it has verified at least 3,766 deaths during the protests and bloody crackdown, per the AP. The Human Rights Activists News Agency said that death toll exceeds that of any other round of protest or unrest in Iran in decades, and recalls the chaos surrounding the 1979 revolution.
Author: Bob Cronin with Newser.AI
Published at: 2026-01-18 21:33:00
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