"A sick man". Trump calls for end of Khamenei's rule in Iran

President of the United States Donald Trump called for an end to the rule of the current head of the Iranian regime, ayatollah Ali Khamenei. This was stated by the American politician in an interview with Politico.

"It’s time to look for new leadership in Iran," Trump said as mass protests in the country demanding an end to the regime appeared to have subsided.

Against the backdrop of killings of protesters by the Iranian regime, Trump has repeatedly threatened military intervention. For example, on January 13, he called on Iranians to continue protesting and seizing government institutions, saying that "help is on the way".

However, the next day, the US president suddenly changed course, saying that he had been informed about ending the killings.

"The best decision he [Khamenei] ever made was not hanging more than 800 people two days ago," Trump said now that he was asked about the scope of a possible US military operation in Iran.

The US president's comments came shortly after the Ayatollah's account on social media site X published a series of hostile posts against the American president. In them, Trump was accused of being responsible for deadly violence and unrest in Iran.

"We find the US President guilty due to the casualties, damages and slander he inflicted upon the Iranian nation," Khamenei wrote.

After Trump was read these posts, he said that Iran's leaders rely on repression and violence to govern the country.

"What he [Khamenei] 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. In order to keep the country functioning – even though that function is a very low level – the leadership should focus on running his country properly, like I do with the United States, and not killing people by the thousands in order to keep control," the US president said.

He added that leadership is "respect, not fear and death."

Trump also said that Khamenei is a "sick man" and that he should "run his country properly and stop killing people."

"His country is the worst place to live anywhere in the world because of poor leadership," the US president said.

• On January 12, the US president announced the introduction of new 25% secondary tariffs against those who work with Iran.
• On January 15, the US Treasury imposed sanctions against 18 Iranian individuals and legal entities that Washington considers to be involved in the brutal suppression of peaceful protests.