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Iran’s military issued a chilling warnung to Washington on Wednesday, vowing to “set fire to their world” if any action is taken against Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei. “Trump knows that if any hand of aggression is extended toward our leader, we not only cut that hand but also we will set fire to their world,” warned Gen Abolfazl Shekarchi, a spokesman for Iran’s armed forces.
The rhetoric follows a weekend interview in which President Trump described Khamenei as a “sick man” and explicitly called for regime change. “It’s time to look for new leadership in Iran,” Trump told Politico, urging the leader to “stop killing people.”Relations between Washington and Tehran have been strained since protests erupted across Iran on December 28, triggered by the country’s worsening economic conditions. Authorities responded with a violent crackdown. Trump has said the United States has drawn two red lines for Iran: the killing of peaceful protesters and the possibility of mass executions following the demonstrations.While a government-imposed internet shutdown has obscured the full scale of the violence since Jan. 8, the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported Tuesday that at least 4,519 people have been killed. Ayatollah Khamenei on Saturday acknowledged the scale of the bloodshed, noting that “several thousand” had died, though he diverted blame toward US interference. This marked the first time the leadership has publicly confirmed the magnitude of the casualties.National police chief Gen Ahmad Reza Radan issued a three-day window for “deceived” youth to surrender, promising leniency for those who turn themselves in for their role in the “riots.
