Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Sunday (February 1, 2026) that recent anti-government protests that saw killings and vandalism were akin to “a coup”.

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“They [rioters] attacked the police, government centres, IRGC centres, banks, and mosques, and burned the Koran. It was like a coup,” Mr. Khamenei said, adding that “the coup was suppressed”.

“Just as the recent sedition was not the first sedition in Tehran, it will not be the last sedition, and such incidents may be repeated in the future,” he added.

The authorities’ response to the protests prompted U.S. President Donald Trump to threaten to intervene militarily, deploying an aircraft carrier group to Middle Eastern waters.

The U.S. had carried out strikes on nuclear facilities in June during its ally Israel’s 12-day war against Iran, before quickly moving to declare a ceasefire. Mr. Khamenei on Sunday (February 1, 2026) warned: “The Americans should know that if they start a war, this time it will be a regional war.”

He was speaking on the 47th anniversary of the return from exile of the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who founded the Islamic Republic in 1979, toppling the U.S.-backed Pahlavi dynasty. Mr. Khamenei accused the US of wanting to “swallow Iran” and return to the days of the monarchy.

“They want to take over this country, just as they had taken over it for 30 years. They had the resources. They had the oil. They had the politics,” he said. “Their hands have been cut off. They want to go back to the same situation as the Pahlavi era.”

The recent demonstrations in Iran began as an expression of discontent at the high cost of living, but grew into a mass anti-government movement, which the country’s leaders have described as “riots” fomented by the United States and Israel.

Tehran has acknowledged more than 3,000 deaths during the protests, but insists that most were members of the security forces and innocent bystanders, attributing the violence to “terrorist acts”.

However, the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said it has confirmed 6,713 deaths, mostly protesters.