Iran Warns US of ‘Full Scale War’

By Ellie Cook

Iran's president has warned that any moves against the country's longstanding supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, would trigger "full-scale war" after President Donald Trump called for regime change in Tehran.

Why It Matters

"It’s time to look for new leadership in Iran," Trump told Politico in an article published on Saturday.

The Republican had warned Iran's top officials he would be willing to strike the country unless he was confident Iranian authorities were not killing protesters, who have been demonstrating across Iran since late December.

Trump late last week told reporters he had it on "good authority" that the "killing in Iran is stopping." Reza Pahlavi, Iran's exiled crown prince and the son of the last shah who was overthrown by clerics in 1979, said the "slaughter has not stopped."

Protests over Iran's stuggling economy have convulsed the country for weeks, morphing into one of the biggest challenges—if not the most powerful display of defiance—to Iran's theocratic rulers for decades.

Thousands of people have been killed, although accurate figures are hard to verify because of a communication blackout imposed across Iran.

What To Know

If Iran's population stares down "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," Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a post to social media on Sunday.

"Any aggression against the Supreme Leader of our country is tantamount to full-scale war against the Iranian nation," Pezeshkian added.

Khamenei had said in a post of his own that Iran's leadership "do not intend to lead the country toward war," but "criminals" inside Iran and across the world would not go unpunished.

Iranian officials have repeatedly pointed the finger at the U.S., blaming Washington and "terrorists" for the violence seen on Iran's streets for more than three weeks.

An unnamed Iranian official told Reuters on Sunday at least 5,000 people had been confirmed dead by authorities in the country. Around 500 of those killed were security personnel, the official told the news agency.

The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) had said on Sunday close to 4,000 people had been killed, while almost 9,000 suspected deaths were still under investigation.

More than 2,100 people have been "severely injured" and more than 24,000 people detained, HRANA said.

Another report, published by Britain's Sunday Times over the weekend, claimed the number of people killed stood at least at 16,500.

Khamenei himself has publicly acknowledged the deaths of "several thousand" people.

Trump had declared the U.S. "stands ready to help" demonstrators and urged protesters to keep up their presence on the streets.

The regime in Tehran is still contending with the aftermath of its brief but destructive war with Israel in June 2025, which ended shortly after the U.S. attacked multiple Iranian nuclear sites.

The last major protests in Iran were in 2022, shortly after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish woman who was detained by Iran's "morality police" for allegedly failing to properly wear her hijab. United Nations experts and human rights groups say more than 550 people were killed.

What People Are Saying

President Donald Trump said earlier in January that if Iranian authorities "start killing people like they have in the past, we will get involved."

Iranian Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a post to X on Saturday: "The US had made extensive preparations to orchestrate this sedition. This sedition was a prelude to even bigger schemes. The Iranian nation defeated the US."