The Supreme Leader of Iran demanded that the “rioters be put in their place” after a week of demonstrations shook the Islamic Republic, and probably gave the security forces the green light to ruthlessly suppress the demonstrations.

The initial remarks by 86-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei are that violence around the protests that were triggered by the ailing economy of Iran has taken at least 15 lives, according to human rights followers.

The demonstrations do not seem to be halting and respond to the words of the U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday (January 2, 2026) that the United States will protect the demonstrators in case Tehran brutally murders them in their “actions against the peaceful protesters.” 

However, it is still unclear how and whether Mr. Trump will intervene; his remarks have elicited an instant and furious reaction, with theocracy officials threatening to attack American soldiers in the Mideast. 

They also acquired a new significance when Mr. Trump announced on Saturday (January 3) that the U.S. military seized Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro, a longtime partner of Tehran.

The demonstrations have been the largest in Iran since 2022, when the killing of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini during police detention in the country sparked widespread protests across the nation. Nevertheless, the demonstrations have not been as massive and as intensive as the ones around the death of Amini, who was arrested because she did not wear her hijab, or headscarf, as authorities wished.

Mr. Khamenei made comments before an audience in Tehran, which were broadcast on state television and aimed to create a differentiation between the interests of the protesting Iranians who were upset by the rial collapse and the rioters. “However, there is no use speaking to rioters. Rioters are supposed to be put in their place.” 

He also repeated an argument that the leaders in Iran had consistently leveled against the protests that they were being driven by foreign powers such as Israel or the United States without providing any proof. He further blamed the rial of Iran on the collapse of the rial in the hands of the enemy.

“A group of individuals instigated or recruited by the enemy is rallying behind the tradesmen and the shopkeepers and shouting anti-Islamic, anti-Iran, and anti-Islamic Republic slogans,” he said. “This is what matters most.” 

The Revolutionary Guard, a paramilitary force in Iran, has units such as the all-volunteer Basij force, whose members, who ride motorcycles, have brutally suppressed protests such as the 2009 Green Movement and the 2022 protests. The Guard is responsible to no one but Mr. Khamenei.

Hardliners in the nation are suspected of arguing for a much more aggressive approach to the protests, as President Masoud Pezeshkian has attempted negotiations to meet the demands of protesters.

However, bloody security crackdowns are the order of the day after such protests. It is claimed that more than 300 individuals were killed in protests against a hike in the prices of gasoline in 2019. In 2022, a crackdown on the Amini protests took the lives of over 500 people, and more than 22,000 were detained in what lasted more than a month.

The Eurasia Group issued an analysis saying that there is no organized domestic opposition in Iran; the protesters are probably acting on the spur of the moment on Friday (January 2). 

Although it may be that protests continue or increase in size (especially with the desperate economic perspectives of Iran), the regime has a vast security system and would most likely crack down on such protests without falling into disarray in control of the nation.