Trump Calls for New Leadership in Iran

«It is time to seek new leadership in Iran,» Trump told Politico, referring to the protests sweeping the country demanding an end to the regime. Trump's message came after Khamenei blamed the United States for the casualties and damage suffered in the mobilizations of recent weeks, which he claimed were a «plot» by Washington to «devour Iran.» According to Trump, «leadership is based on respect, not fear and death.» Trump threatened to attack the Persian country if more people died, when the death toll was seven, and later said that «help is on the way,» which many interpreted as a warning of intervention. The protests spread until Thursday, January 8, and Friday, January 9, when they reached their climax with an explosion of demonstrations in virtually all of Iran, which led to acts of vandalism against public bodies, banks that were razed, and the burning of 53 mosques across the country, according to Iranian government figures. The President of the United States, Donald Trump, assured this Saturday in an interview with Politico that «it is time to seek new leadership in Iran» that would end the almost 37-year rule of Iran's Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei. «To keep the country running, even at a very low level, leaders should focus on properly governing their country, as I do with the United States, and not kill thousands of people to maintain control,» he added. Upon learning of this, the American accused the rulers of Tehran of resorting to repression and violence to govern. Khamenei stated this Saturday that «several thousand» people have died in the protests. Tehran maintains that the economic protests turned violent due to the infiltration of external agents backed by Israel and the United States to justify a military intervention by Washington, which has not occurred so far. «What I am guilty of, as the leader of a country, is the total destruction of the country and the use of violence to levels never before seen,» he pointed out in the interview. The mobilizations began on December 28 when Tehran merchants closed their businesses due to the fall of the rial, but soon spread throughout the country with cries of «Death to the Islamic Republic» and «Death to Khamenei.» Opposition NGOs based in exile put the death toll at 3,428 and the number of detainees at 19,000.