‘Time To Look for New Leadership in Iran’: Trump Calls for End to ‘Sick Man’ Khamenei’s Rule

President Donald Trump issued an unprecedented call for regime change in Iran, marking the first time any U.S. president has publicly endorsed removing Ayatollah Ali Khamenei from power after 37 years of hardline rule.

"It’s time to look for new leadership in Iran," Trump told Politico on Saturday after a reporter read him a series of social media posts in which Khamenei accused Trump of orchestrating the widespread protests that have threatened his grip on power.

"What he 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," Trump continued. "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 president added that Khamenei "is a sick man who 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 Iranian dictator unleashed a social media tirade against Trump early Saturday, writing, "We find the US president guilty due to the casualties, damages and slander he inflicted upon the Iranian nation."

In another post, Khamenei wrote that "the US President introduced the groups who committed acts of vandalism, arson, and murdered people as ‘the Iranian nation.’ He uttered an appalling slander against the Iranian people. We find the US President guilty for this slander."

Trump’s remarks come after the Iranian regime killed upwards of 12,000 civilians in a bloody crackdown even as Trump repeatedly warned Khamenei and his allies that they would face consequences for doing so. The United States is in the process of moving military assets into the region in preparation for a potential strike that could reinvigorate a protest movement that has slowed under regime pressure, but Trump has not confirmed whether the United States will take action against the Islamic Republic. While the president appeared poised earlier in the week to immediately authorize U.S. military intervention, he retreated from that stance after the Iranian regime postponed the public executions of around 800 protesters.

"The best decision he ever made was not hanging more than 800 people two days ago," Trump said in the Saturday interview with Politico.

Israel and several Gulf states reportedly urged Trump to postpone military action, fearing that Iranian retaliation would include attacks on their countries that the United States did not yet have the capability to prevent on Wednesday. But White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday that "all options remain on the table." The State Department, meanwhile, confirmed to the Washington Free Beacon late Friday that diplomacy with Tehran is not one of those options.

"There will be no meetings with Iranian officials until the senseless killing of Iranian protesters stops," a spokesman told the Free Beacon. "President Trump stated that the United States will take ‘very strong action’ in Iran if the Iranian regime starts hanging protesters."

The Trump administration on Thursday took its first concrete action against the Islamic Republic, unveiling sweeping new sanctions on the leaders responsible for slaughtering protesters. The Treasury Department targeted prominent regime figures like Supreme National Security Council secretary Ali Larijani, who authorized deadly force against demonstrators in several major cities, as well as officials within Iran’s internal security apparatus.

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