TEHRAN
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian warned on Sunday that any attack on the country’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would mean a declaration of war.
“An attack on the great leader of our country is tantamount to a full-scale war with the Iranian nation,” Pezeshkian said in a post on X in an apparent response to US President Donald Trump saying it was time to look for a new leader in Iran.
Limited internet access has returned in Iran, a monitor said Sunday, 10 days after authorities imposed a communications blackout amid violent protests.
Demonstrations sparked in late December by anger over economic hardship exploded into protests widely seen as the biggest challenge to the Iranian leadership in years.
The rallies subsided after the crackdown amid a communications blackout that started on January 8 as the protests grew in size and intensity.
Iranian officials have said the demonstrations were peaceful before turning into “riots” and blamed foreign influence from Iran’s arch-foes the United States and Israel.
Trump, who backed and joined Israel’s 12-day war against Iran in June, had repeatedly threatened new military action against Tehran if protesters were killed.
While Washington appeared to have stepped back, Trump hit out at the Iranian supreme leader — in power for 37 years — in an interview with Politico on Saturday, saying it was “time to look for new leadership in Iran”.
As leaders in Washington and Tehran have exchanged barbs, Iranian officials have said calm has been restored in the streets.
Security forces with armored vehicles and motorcycles were seen in central Tehran, according to media correspondents.
