TEHRAN, Iran

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Saturday that US President Donald Trump is the “main culprit” behind the casualties and damage caused during recent protests across the country.

Speaking to a gathering in the capital Tehran, Khamenei said that during the recent “sedition,” the US president intervened personally and “issued threats, and encouraged and supported the seditionists.”

“I say this firmly that America’s goal in the recent sedition was to swallow up Iran,” he said.

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.

Amid fierce street clashes between protesters and security personnel, hundreds of casualties were reported, especially in the western provinces.

Police said the peaceful protests were “hijacked by rioters,” who, they claim, were supported by the US and Israeli intelligence agencies.

Attacks were reported on government buildings, police stations, shops, banks, and mosques across the country, including in Tehran, causing hundreds of millions of dollars in damage, according to initial estimates.

The official death toll is not known yet, but unofficial estimates range from hundreds to thousands.

Khamenei said the US has, since the 1979 Iranian Revolution, sought to “restore its dominance” in Iran, adding that all administrations in Washington have followed this policy toward the country.

He said that in the past, Western media figures would be involved, but this time, the president of the US “himself encouraged seditionists,” referring to armed protesters.

He accused the US and Israel of “identifying and training” certain individuals inside Iran “to create fear and carry out destruction,” adding that law enforcement forces had arrested “a large number of them.”

Khamenei also said the “rioters” burned 250 mosques across the country and attacked banks and shops as well.

Iran, he insisted, does not want war but will not let “the domestic and international criminals” go unpunished.

He also spoke about the economic situation in the country, noting that conditions are not good and people’s livelihoods are “truly under strain.”

Khamenei called on the authorities to work with “greater seriousness” in providing essential goods, livestock feed, food, and supplies needed by people.

His remarks came after Trump said he had shelved plans to strike Iran, that the country had stopped executing protesters.

Iran’s judiciary has said that so far, no one involved in the recent protests has been sentenced to death.