Iran’s Khamenei lashes out at protesters as nationwide anti-regime unrest grows

The ruling Ayatollah of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ali Khamenei, on Saturday issued an angry response to the unfolding nationwide demonstrations against his regime’s political and economic corruption. The 86-year-old Khamenei, in his first public speech since the strikes and social unrest rocked his fragile regime seven days ago declared, "A number of agitated people, enemy mercenaries, had positioned themselves behind bazaar merchants and chanted slogans against Islam, against Iran and against the Islamic Republic. Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran’s last Shah, wrote on X, "Ali Khamenei, fearing the growing waves of this national uprising, has emerged from his hiding place to threaten the people of Iran.