ISTANBUL

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Sunday that any attack targeting Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would amount to a declaration of war against Iran.

“An attack on the great leader of our country is tantamount to a full-scale war with the Iranian nation,” Pezeshkian said in a post on US social media company X.

He added that if the people of Iran face hardship and difficulties in their lives, one of the main reasons for it is “the longstanding enmity and inhumane sanctions imposed by the United States government and its allies."

The remarks followed US President Donald Trump’s comments earlier in an interview with Politico, in which he described Khamenei as a “sick man” and said that Iran is the “worst place to live” and that it was time to seek new leadership in Iran.

Khamenei also said on Saturday that Trump is the “main culprit” behind the casualties and damage caused during recent protests across the country.

Anti-government protests over the deteriorating economic situation and a record depreciation of the national currency, the rial, broke out in Tehran late last month and gradually spread to other cities across Iran.

On Jan. 8, the protests took a violent turn after the US-based son of a former Iranian monarch urged people to take to the streets in protest against the government.