Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has accused U.S. President Donald Trump of inciting weeks of unrest across Iran, as rights groups report that more than 3,000 people have been killed in the country’s deadliest protests in years.

Speaking in Tehran on Saturday, Khamenei said Washington bore responsibility for the violence and destruction that accompanied the demonstrations, which began late last month over economic hardship and escalated into nationwide calls for the end of clerical rule.

“The U.S. president is criminally responsible for the casualties, damage and slander inflicted on the Iranian nation,” Khamenei said, according to state media.

The protests, which erupted on December 28, spread rapidly across major cities and towns. Khamenei acknowledged that “several thousand” people had died, blaming the violence on foreign enemies, including the United States and Israel, whom he accused of orchestrating chaos, arson and attacks on public property.

A U.S.-based rights group, the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), said it had verified 3,090 deaths, including nearly 2,900 protesters, as well as more than 22,000 arrests. Iranian authorities have not confirmed those figures.

Trump has repeatedly warned Tehran against executing detained protesters, threatening “very strong action” if mass hangings were carried out.

On Friday, he posted on social media thanking Iran’s leaders for allegedly calling off executions, a claim Iranian officials denied, saying there had been “no plan to hang people.”

Responding indirectly, Khamenei said Iran would not seek war but would not allow “domestic or international criminals” to go unpunished.

In a separate interview, Trump called for “new leadership in Iran” and urged an end to Khamenei’s 37-year rule. He has also spoken favorably of exiled opposition figure Reza Pahlavi, while expressing doubts about his ability to rally sufficient support inside Iran.

Iranian authorities say arrests have followed extensive intelligence operations targeting what they describe as “rioters, terrorists and mercenaries.”

State media reported that thousands had been detained, including alleged “ringleaders” accused of coordinating unrest from abroad.

Last week, Iran’s prosecutor general warned that detainees would face severe punishment, describing those involved as mohareb — an Islamic legal term meaning “waging war against God,” which carries the death penalty under Iranian law.

The crackdown appears to have largely quelled the protests, according to residents and state media, though access to independent information remains limited.

Internet blackouts, briefly eased early on Saturday, were later reimposed, according to monitoring group NetBlocks, which said nationwide connectivity continued to “flatline” as the shutdown entered its tenth day.

Residents in some hard-hit areas said the worst violence occurred earlier in the week, as security forces moved to reassert control.

Israeli officials have publicly expressed support for Iranian opposition figures in recent weeks, with one minister acknowledging the presence of Israeli operatives inside Iran, though denying any direct effort to overthrow the leadership.

Iranian authorities continue to blame foreign influence for the unrest, while rights groups warn that the true scale of casualties may be difficult to verify amid arrests, censorship and ongoing internet restrictions.

A Ukrainian delegation is en route to the U.S. for talks on security guarantees and a post-war recovery package, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday, expressing hope the documents could be signed on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos next week.

During the talks, Kyiv’s team also hopes to get clarity from the U.S. on the Russian stance towards U.S.-backed diplomatic efforts to end the nearly four-year war, Zelenskiy told a news conference in Kyiv alongside Czech President Petr Pavel.

“I think we have worked well with the American side, we are just not on the same side on some issues,” Zelenskiy said of the negotiations with Washington.

U.S. President Donald Trump told Reuters earlier this week that he may meet with Zelenskiy at the WEF, a meeting which the Ukrainian leader has publicly sought.

Zelenskiy said that Ukraine had completed its part of the work on the documents outlining a “prosperity package” to unlock money for Ukraine’s costly post-war recovery, as well as on U.S. security guarantees designed to stop a future Russian attack. Ukrainian officials have said the country will need $800 billion for its post-war reconstruction.

Ukraine’s ambassador to the U.S., Olha Stefanishyna, said senior Ukrainian officials would take part in bilateral talks on the two key agreements on Friday in Miami.

“The purpose of the visit is to refine these agreements with American partners,” Stefanishyna said in a post on Facebook, adding they “may be signed … in Davos.”

Ukraine’s delegation will include the head of Zelenskiy’s office, Kyrylo Budanov, secretary of Ukraine’s national security and defence council, Rustem Umerov, and the head of Zelenskiy’s parliamentary faction, Davyd Arakhamia, she added.

Washington has pushed Ukraine to agree to a peace framework that it will then present to Moscow, while Kyiv and its European allies have sought to ensure that Ukraine will not be attacked again by Russia in future.

“Ultimatums are not, in my view, a workable model for democratic relations between countries,” Zelenskiy said, without specifying to what he was referring.

Trump, who has often criticised Zelenskiy, said on Wednesday that Russia was ready for a peace deal and that he saw the Ukrainian leader as the obstacle to peace, an assessment that stands in stark contrast with that of European allies.

On Friday, Zelenskiy said Russia was stalling peace efforts, and cited Moscow’s recent strikes on Ukraine’s energy system as proof of Moscow’s real intentions.

“Each of these strikes against our energy sector and our cities quite clearly shows Russia’s real interests and intentions: they are not interested in agreements, but in the further destruction of Ukraine,” he posted on social media after the news conference.

At the news conference, Zelenskiy also pushed for more air defence ammunition to protect Ukraine’s power grid. He said that until a new aid package had arrived on Friday morning, several air defence systems had been left without missiles.

“We need to fight for these (aid) packages with blood, with people’s lives,” he told reporters.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that Iranian opposition figure Reza Pahlavi “seems very nice” but expressed uncertainty over whether Pahlavi would be able to muster support within Iran to eventually take over.

In an exclusive Reuters interview in the Oval Office, Trump said there is a chance Iran’s clerical government could collapse, blamed Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for the stalemate in negotiations with Russia over the war in Ukraine, and dismissed Republican criticism of a Justice Department probe of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.

Trump has repeatedly threatened to intervene in support of protesters in Iran, where thousands of people have been reported killed in a crackdown on the unrest against clerical rule. But he was reluctant on Wednesday to lend his full support to Pahlavi, the son of the late shah of Iran, who was ousted from power in 1979.

“He seems very nice, but I don’t know how he’d play within his own country,” Trump said. “And we really aren’t up to that point yet.

“I don’t know whether or not his country would accept his leadership, and certainly if they would, that would be fine with me.”

Trump’s comments went further in questioning Pahlavi’s ability to lead Iran after saying last week that he had no plans to meet with him.

The U.S.-based Pahlavi, 65, has lived outside Iran since before his father was toppled in the 1979 Islamic Revolution and has become a prominent voice in the protests. Iran’s opposition is fragmented among rival groups and ideological factions – including the monarchists who back Pahlavi – and appears to have little organized presence inside the Islamic Republic.

Trump said it is possible the government in Tehran could fall due to the protests but that in truth “any regime can fail.”

“Whether or not it falls or not, it’s going to be an interesting period of time,” he said.

Trump, who is closing out the first year of his second term in office, sat behind his massive Resolute Desk and sipped a Diet Coke during the 30-minute interview. At one point, he held up a thick binder of papers he said contained his achievements since being sworn into office on January 20, 2025.

But he sought to manage expectations for Republicans in November’s congressional midterm elections, noting that the party in power frequently loses seats two years after a presidential election.

“When you win the presidency, you don’t win the midterms,” he said. “But we’re going to try very hard to win the midterms.”

‘ZELENSKIY’ MAIN IMPEDIMENT TO REACHING DEAL

Trump, who has struggled throughout his presidency to end Russia’s war in Ukraine despite campaign boasts that he could end it in a day, said Zelenskiy is the main impediment to resolving the four-year-old war.

Trump has frequently criticized both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Zelenskiy but seemed more downbeat once again on the Ukrainian president.

Trump said Putin is “ready to make a deal.” Asked what the hold up is, Trump said simply: “Zelenskiy.”

“We have to get President Zelenskiy to go along with it,” he said.

REPUBLICAN LAWMAKERS ‘SHOULD BE LOYAL’

Trump dismissed Senate Republicans who have vowed to block his Fed nominees over concerns that Trump’s Justice Department is interfering with the central bank’s traditional independence with its probe into Powell.

“I don’t care. There’s nothing to say. They should be loyal,” he said of his party’s lawmakers.

Trump also rejected criticism from JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon that Trump’s meddling into the Fed could spike inflation.

“I don’t care what he says,” Trump said.

Trump is to meet on Thursday with Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado at the White House, their first in-person meeting since Trump directed the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and seized control of the country earlier this month.

“She’s a very nice woman,” Trump said of Machado. “I’ve seen her on television. I think we’re just going to talk basics.”

Machado won the Nobel Peace Prize last year and dedicated it to Trump. She has offered to give him her prize, but the Nobel Committee said the peace prize cannot be transferred.

He praised the acting president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodriguez, who was vice president to Maduro when he was ousted. Trump said he had a “fascinating talk” with Rodriguez earlier on Wednesday and “she’s been very good to deal with.”

Trump frequently extolled the strength of the U.S. economy during the interview despite lingering worries among Americans about prices. He said he will carry that message with him next week to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where he will stress “how great our economy is, how strong our job numbers are, how good we’re doing.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Reuters that Trump will have bilateral meetings with the leaders of Switzerland, Poland and Egypt while at the Davos event.