President Trump slammed Iran’s supreme leader as a “sick” man Saturday and said it’s time for him to go, marking his most explicit comments about the brutally repressive regime.
The threats came after Trump learned of a series of posts the Islamic Republic’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei wrote about him on X, Politico reported.
“It’s time to look for new leadership in Iran,” Trump told the outlet.
“What he is guilty of, as the leader of a country, is the complete destruction of the country and the use of violence at levels never seen before,” he added.
Khamenei went after Trump earlier in the day Saturday, calling him a “criminal” and blaming him for the murder of thousands of protestors that have been slaughtered in the streets of Tehran.
“We consider the US president a criminal for the casualties, damages, and the slander he inflicted on the Iranian nation,” Khamenei moaned.”The US’s goal is to devour Iran,” he whined, claiming the president incited rioters to take to the streets of Tehran.
Trump shot back at Khamenei, 86, calling him a failed ruler.
“The man is a sick man who should run his country properly and stop killing people,” Trump shot back. “His country is the worst place to live anywhere in the world because of poor leadership.”
The heated exchange continued into Saturday evening in Tehran, with the Ayatollah doubling down and claiming agents of the US and Israel operating inside Iran were the ones who “murdered several thousand people … including a three-year-old girl.”
“The US must be held accountable,” Khamenei warned.
“Worse than the internal criminals are the international criminals! We will not let go of them either.”
The distraught daughter of a high-ranking Islamic Republic commander, meanwhile, sobbed in a gut wrenching call on Persian television, as she testified this week how her own father had ordered her to kill innocent civilians.
After threatening the US was “locked and loaded and ready to go” earlier this month if the Islamic Republic continued to slaughter its people, Trump changed his mind this week.
His decision came after the regime said it would halt plans to conduct mass executions, Trump said, although Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly also asked him to delay any US attack on Tehran and Arab nations urged the president against destabilizing the region.
