‘Protesters ruining their own streets for Trump’

DUBAI: Iran’s supreme leader signalled Friday that security forces would crack down on protesters, directly challenging US President Donald Trump’s pledge to support those peacefully demonstrating.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei dismissed Trump as having hands “stained with the blood of Iranians” as supporters shouted “Death to America!” in footage aired by Iranian state television.

State media later repeatedly referred to demonstrators as “terrorists,” setting the stage for a violent crackdown like those that have followed other nationwide protests in recent years.

Protesters are “ruining their own streets ... in order to please the president of the United States,” Khamenei said to a crowd at his compound in Tehran. “Because he said that he would come to their aid.

He should pay attention to the state of his own country instead.”

Iran’s judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei separately vowed that punishment for protesters “will be decisive, maximum and without any legal leniency.”

There was no immediate response from Washington, though Trump has repeated his pledge to strike

Iran if protesters are killed, a threat that’s taken on greater significance after the US military raid that seized Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro.

Despite Iran’s theocracy cutting off the nation from the internet and international telephone calls, short online videos shared by activists purported to show protesters chanting against

Iran’s government around bonfires as debris littered the streets in the capital, Tehran, and other areas into Friday morning.

Iranian state media alleged “terrorist agents” of the US and Israel set fires and sparked violence. It also said there were “casualties,” without elaborating.