Cleric Ahmad Khatami's sermon carried by Iranian state radio sparked chants from those gathered for prayers, including: “Armed hypocrites should be put to death!” Executions, as well as the killing of peaceful protesters, had been two of the red lines laid down by Trump for possible military action against Iran over the protests.
Khatami's remarks also offered the first nationwide counts of damage done during the demonstrations, which began Dec. 28 over Iran's ailing economy and soon morphed into demonstrations directly challenging the country's theocracy.
Iran cut off access to the internet Jan. 8 and intensified a bloody crackdown on all dissent, which the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency reports killed at least 2,677 people. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the death toll and Iran has offered no overall casualty figures.
Khatami, appointed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and a member of both the country's Assembly of Experts and Guardian Council, described the protesters at time as the “butlers” of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and “Trump's soldiers.” He insisted their plans “had imagined disintegrating the country”
“They should wait for hard revenge from the system,” Khatami said of Netanyahu and Trump. “Americans and Zionists should not expect peace.”
