Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei Has Lifted All Restraints On The Deliberate Killing Of Protestors By Stating That Iran’s Islamic Regime Came To Power In 1979 ‘By Virtue Of The Blood Of Hundreds Of Thousands Of Noble Martyrs’; We Will Not Allow The Rioters To Topple The Regime

After some two weeks in which hundreds of thousands protested against the Iranian regime and against its head, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, across the country, Khamenei said, in a January 9, 2026 speech, that the Iranian regime would not retreat in the face of the protestors, whom he called “rioters,” “those who destroy,” and “fools” who were wreaking destruction “to satisfy the American president.” The speech was recorded in the city of Qom[1] and broadcast on Iranian state television.

With his speech, Khamenei effectively sanctioned the brutal suppression of the protests by saying that the Islamic regime in Iran came to power in 1979 “by virtue of the blood of hundreds of thousands of noble martyrs” and that he had no intention of allowing lawbreakers to overthrow it.

Khamenei’s statements were perceived as a green light for the regime’s forces of oppression, the IRGC and the Basij, to use lethal force against the protesting civilians. Indeed, during and after the speech, there were reports of a countrywide Internet and communications blackout, along with a dramatic escalation in the number of victims. Prior to his speech, the reported death toll had numbered in the dozens; after it, the numbers spiked. The regime itself acknowledged some 5,000 deaths, while opposition sources, such as Iran International, estimated 12,000, and later reports gave even higher estimates. Videos and photos somehow sent out of the country showed harrowing scenes, including of many bodies lying in the streets and repression forces firing at protestors.

In the speech, Khamenei went on to say that the war in the streets is the regime’s Islamic war against its enemies, and that he would not allow a monarchical, secular-liberal, or West-dependent regime to replace Iran’s Islamic regime.

Calling the protests a “foreign conspiracy,” he said that those participating in them are mercenaries working for the U.S., President Donald Trump, and Israel. His use of these terms was an attempt to cast the protestors as traitors posing a foreign threat to the country, instead of citizens protesting a domestic economic or social crisis.

Khamenei dismissed the notion that the protestors – young Iranians who want to live a comfortable, secular, Western-style life – are representative of Iran’s youth, calling it “100% incorrect.” For him, young Iranians are actually courageous Islamic fighters who show religious devotion and show up regularly at regime ceremonies. In this way, Khamenei drew a distinction between those protesting in the streets and what he called Iran’s “real young people,” while calling on his supporters to maintain unity and Islamic political thought in order to ensure the regime’s survival in the face of international and internal pressures.

Reiterating in his speech the regime’s founding narrative that depicts the U.S. as “the leader of the global arrogance” aiming to seize Iran’s oil resources and the wealth of the world’s peoples, he went on to promise that the Iranian nation would defeat these conspiracies just as it had in the past. In a personal attack on President Trump, he compared him to historic tyrants such as Pharaoh and the heads of the pre-Islamic Republic Pahlavi dynasty, and predicted that Trump’s fall was nigh.

On January 12, 2026, Khamenei posted on his X account this passage about Trump from his speech, along with an illustration depicting Trump as a pharaoh in in a crumbling ancient Egyptian sarcophagus (see below).

The following day, in a January 13 address, Iranian Army commander in chief Abdolrahim Mousavi called the protesters “ISIS terrorists,” “criminals,” “mercenaries worse than wild animals,” and “puppets” of their “satanic master” America, adding that the Iranian regime would not allow them to “raise their heads.”

Additionally, Iranian prosecutor-general Mohammad Movahedi stressed that the protests are an organized activity guided by Iran’s enemies. He went on to say that the regime had “decided to deal harshly with the rioters and their supporters” and concluded by promising “full support for  prosecutors in their mission to defend Islam.”[2]

Earlier, on January 7, two days before Khamenei’s speech, Iranian judiciary head Gholam-Hosseini Mohseni-Eje’i ordered “speedy trials and punishment for the rioters,” and stressed that “there will be no leniency in carrying out sentences,” and “no mercy or clemency for the rioters.”[3] Human rights organizations reported that Erfan Soltani, 26, arrested in the second week of the protest, was due to be executed on January 14 after a fast-tracked trial;[4] however, following President Trump’s warnings to the regime against executing protesters, Iranian authorities announced that Soltani’s death sentence had been suspended.

Below is the translation of Khamenei’s January 9, 2026 speech and of Iranian Armed Forces Chief Of Staff Abdolrahim Mousavi’s January 13 statement.

Khamenei: “The Authoritative Islamic Regime, Which Rose To Power By Virtue Of The Blood Of Hundreds Of Thousands Of Noble Martyrs, Will Not Back Down Before Fools And Rioters”

“The error in the calculations of the corrupt Pahlavi regime and of its main supporter, America, was the background to their defeat at the hands of the Iranian nation. Today, too, the Iranian nation – which, thanks to the Islamic Republic Regime, is much stronger than it was [at its founding], ideologically, spiritually, and in material means – will again defeat the arrogant America, whose calculations are [still] deluded. And the authoritative Islamic Regime, which rose to power through the blood of hundreds of thousands of noble martyrs, will not back down before fools and rioters who choose destruction.

“There are some people whose role is to destroy. Yesterday, in Tehran and in other places, a handful of those who destroy arrived to deface buildings that belong to their own state, in order to please the President of America.

“He is also pleased with himself, but he should, if he can, go run his own country, which is beset by various events. During the 12-Day War [of June 2025], his hands were stained with the blood of over one thousand Iranians, and he himself has admitted that he gave the order to attack and commanded [the attacks] during the war. The same man is now saying that he supports the Iranian people, and those who have not been paying attention, or who have no brain, believe it, torching garbage cans and carrying out other such acts according to his will.

“The Islamic Republic rose to power by virtue of the blood of hundreds of thousands of noble people, and it will not back down in the face of those who destroy. The Islamic Republic does not tolerate foreign mercenaries, and the Iranian nation rejects any foreign mercenary, whoever they may be.

“The same fellow who talks and judges the whole world, in his arrogance and pride, should know that the world’s tyrants and arrogant ones, such as Nimrod, Pharaoh, Reza Khan, and Mohammed Reza Pahlavi [rulers of Iran who preceded the Islamic Revolution] fell just at the peak of their arrogance, and he too will fall the same way.”

Khamenei: “Faith In Islam, Religious Devotion, Faithful Devotion, A Sense Of Responsibility, Commitment, And Love For Iran Were The Ideological Components Of The Iranian Nation As It Faced Pahlavi’s Puppet Regime”

“The January 9, [1978] uprising of the residents of Qom [against the Shah and in support of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini] is a page that is inseparable from the thick tome of Iran’s glorious history. That important and crucial event took the cumulative knowledge of the Islamic movement – accrued in the minds and spirits of the people thanks to the words of the wise Imam [Islamic regime founder Khomeini] and the efforts of thinkers since the beginning of the Islamic movement – and turned it into a social movement. Then, like lighting from the sky, [that event] sparked the nation’s rage and hatred towards the dictatorial, American Pahlavi regime, and by shaping a series of uprising, lead the corrupt regime to its fall and destruction.

“The tyrannical Pahlavi regime was the worst in the modern era. When that corrupt and weak regime was destroyed, as the Imam [Khomeini] promised, a popular regime came into power, and instead of a regime that was dependent on ‘America, Zionism and the rest of the rabble and hooligans of the political world,’ beloved Iran saw the establishment of independent rule.

“The policy and mistaken calculations of the Pahlavi regime and of America were the backdrop for the decisive event of the Qom uprising [the pro-Islamic regime rally of January 9]. Ten days prior to the uprising by the noble and revolutionary people of Qom, the American president, in Tehran, called Tehran of the Pahlavi era an ‘island of stability,’[5] heaping praise on the puppet regime, proving he does not know the Iranian nation.

“Those mistakes lead America to defeat back then, and today, too, they will bring it nothing but defeat. On that day [January 9, 1978], the Iranian nation had no material weapons such as cannons or tanks, but it was armed with a soft weapon – which decides every battle. Faith in Islam, religious devotion, faithful devotion, a sense of responsibility, commitment, and love for Iran were the ideological components of the Iranian nation as it faced Pahlavi’s puppet regime. The nation saw that the Americans, its mercenaries, and those close to the Zionists were ruling its country, and these facts made it angry, outraged, and filled with contempt.

“Today the Iranian nation stands proud when it comes to soft and spiritual weapons. It is stronger, more united, and more prepared than it was then. And in terms of material power [as well], its situation cannot be compared to what it was back then.

“Those who oppose the Iranian nation’s plan of confronting and facing America are lacking awareness. They do not notice that America and its proxies are the ones that started the fight against the nation and who perpetuate it because the Islamic Republic, backed by the nation, has seized the massive wealth and mighty resources of Iran from their hands. This is what has caused America to be so frustrated and hostile to the Iranian nation.

“The events in Latin American are an example of America’s efforts to take over the resources of nations. They lay siege to a country and rudely say, ‘we did it for the oil,’ just as before the Revolution, when Iran’s oil and resources were in the hands of the Arrogant Ones [the Americans], the Zionists, and those who do their bidding.”

Khamenei: “If A Liberal-Democratic Government Ruled Iran, Whether Monarchical Or Dependent On This Or That [Foreign Power], It Would Not Be Have Been Able To Withstand Such Pressures”

“By divine grace, the Islamic Regime grew stronger every day, and their plots to destroy the Regime failed. So today, against their will, the Islamic Republic is powerful, holds its head high, and is respected around the world. The reason the enemy has failed, despite its methods of aggression and plots – military, security, economic, cultural – and despite recruiting mercenaries, is the rule of the Islamic Republic. If a liberal-democratic government ruled Iran, whether monarchical or dependent on this or that [foreign power], it would not have been able to withstand such pressures. But this Islamic and popular Regime has successfully brought Iran to great [leaps of] progress in science, technology, international policy, and in many other domains.

“The claim that Iran is isolated is totally false. Such claims, originated by foreigners and accepted by domestic elements, are actually self-deception, since today’s Iran is recognized by the world as an independent, brave country with a future.

“The source of much of the country’s activities and progress is thanks to the youth. Of course the youth and the general public are not all at the same level, but overall, the young demographic, contrary to the enemy’s lies, is one of Iran’s greatest advantages. The enemy makes efforts to portray and describe the Iranian youth as a deviant element, dependent on the West, who turned his back on religion, is promiscuous, corrupt, and of weak moral fiber. This picture is 100 percent incorrect. The Iranian youth, at war, is a bold-spirited youth who defends with his body. In politics, he is sober and knows [the truth about] America. In religion, he is steadfast. And in all arenas – including in Revolution Day parades [on February 10] and on Qods Day, in I’tikaf [ritual isolation], in religious celebrations, on days of mourning and at the funerals of martyrs – he is a prominent presence.

“Dear young people, maintain your religion, your political thought, your presence and readiness, your seriousness about the country’s progress, and your unity, because a united, unified nation overcomes any enemy. Inshallah, soon, a feeling of victory will rise in the hearts of all the Iranian people.”[6]

Khamenei On X: Trump Will Fall Like Pharaoh

On January 12, Khamenei posted a paragraph from his speech on X, saying Trump would fall just as other “tyrants” fell, including Pharaoh. The tweet included an illustration depicting Trump as an ancient Egyptian sarcophagus that is breaking into pieces in an ancient tomb, as a metaphor for his collapsing power. The post read:

“The same fellow who talks and judges the world with arrogance and pride should know that the world’s tyrants, such as Nimrod, Pharaoh, and Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, all fell at the peak of  their pride, and he too will fall the same way, #like pharaoh.”[7]

Khamaenei’s X post likening Trump to Pharaoh. Source: Khamenei’s X account, January 12, 2026.

Iranian Armed Forces Chief Of Staff Abdolrahim Mousavi: “The Enemies Should Know That The Defenders Of Iran’s Security Will Not Allow Any Criminal ISIS Terrorist, Manufactured By Any Arrogant Superpower, To Raise His Head”

On January 13, 2026, Iranian Armed Forces Chief of Staff Abdolrahim Mousavi released a statement praising the participants of the pro-regime rally held the previous day, which he called an “anti-Zionist and anti-American” rally. In his statement, he called the protesters “ISIS terrorists”, “criminals”, and “mercenaries worse than wild animals” who were “manufactured” by America, their “satanic master.” He underlined that the Iranian regime will not allow them to “raise their head”, and warned that they will be relentlessly suppressed, even if it costs them their lives.

Iranian Armed Forces Chief of Staff Abdolrahim Mousavi (source: Tasnim, January 13, 2026)

The following is a translation of his statement:

“The great Iranian people proved its greatness once again, both as a friend and an foe. ISIS terrorists, Zionist-Americans, activated by the Mossad and the CIA, carried out the most vile crimes against the people, against private and public property, and against the security forces [during the protests]. Seeing or even hearing about these crimes is beyond what the human heart can bear.

“In order to compensate for their historic defeat in the Sacred Defense 12-Day War [of June 2025], America and the Zionist regime let loose these ISIS terrorists and mercenaries, who are worse than wild animals, at the very heart of this great people, to carry out the orders of their satanic master, America, and cause maximum casualties using hot and cold weapons, brutally murdering and making martyrs of civilians and members of the security forces.”

“Iran Is A Fortress Of Religion, Culture, Science, And Moral Values; We, The Soldiers Of Iran, Will Defend This Fortress With Our Lives”

“Were it not for the involvement of some unaware people among the terrorists, the powerful police of the Islamic Republic would not have allowed any of them to carry on their evil acts. But psychological warfare, and some lapses in the attention of some people who remained at the scene, compelled the dedicated popular police and the heroic Basij to shield and protect the people with their lives, sacrificing [themselves] for the security of this beloved country, out of consideration for the lives of people who were not involved, and without using weapons.

“Now, the world is watching proud Iran. Now the angels are envious of this noble, wise, insightful, oppressed, and powerful nation, which arrived [on the scene] once again to inflict another humiliating defeat on its enemies.

“This epic presence is a clear, explicit, and powerful message to the whole world. Iran’s friends should know that Iran stands stalwart in its greatness, and will not relent, even a little, when it comes to its independence, territorial integrity, regime, revolution, honor, national ideals and interests. Its enemies should know that the guardians of this state will not permit speech or action to any criminal ISIS terrorist, cultivated by any arrogant superpower, even if they [the enemies] are utterly certain that they will be met with the support of the mindless.

“Iran is a fortress of religion, culture, science, and moral values; we, the soldiers of Iran, will defend this fortress with our lives…”[8]

[1] Khamenei’s speech was to mark the anniversary of the uprising of the citizens of Qom on January 9, 1978 against the Shah following the publication of a derogatory article about the founder of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

[2] T.me/Tasnimnews/383075, January 11, 2026.

[3] Tasnim (Iran), January 7, 2026.

[4] News Gooya (Belgium), January 12, 2026.

[5] President Jimmy Carter visited Tehran in December 31, 1977-January 1, 1978, and said that Tehran was “an island of stability in one of the most troubled areas of the world.”

[6] Tasnim (Iran), January 9, 2026.

[7] X.com/Khamenei_fa/status/2010478446145593345, January 12, 2026.

[8] Tasnim (Iran), January 13, 2026.