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By JON GAMBRELL, Associated Press
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — European leaders urged Iran late Friday to allow its citizens to demonstrate without reprisal after Tehran signaled security forces would crack down on the protesters whom U.S. President Donald Trump has pledged to support.
At least 62 people have been killed in the protests that began in late December over Iran’s ailing economy and have morphed into the most significant challenge to the government in years.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei dismissed Trump as having hands “stained with the blood of Iranians” as his supporters shouted “Death to America!” in footage aired by Iranian state television. State media later referred to the demonstrators as “terrorists,” setting the stage for a violent crackdown as in other protests in recent years.
Protesters are “ruining their own streets … in order to please the president of the United States,” the 86-year-old Khamenei said to a crowd at his compound in Tehran. “Because he said that he would come to their aid. He should pay attention to the state of his own country instead.”
Iran’s judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei separately vowed that punishment for protesters ...
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