Message to Trump? Khamenei Switches to Russian to Threaten US as Protests Intensify Across Iran

Key Highlights

• Ksenia Svetlova, executive director of the Regional Organization for Peace, Economy and Security (ROPES) and an associate fellow at Chatham House, told FOX News the choice of language was significant, even if the wording itself appeared awkward."This is bad Russian," she said.
• "It seems that it's translated by Google Translate, not by a human being." However, she said the decision to use Khamenei's Russian-language account reflected the increasingly close relationship between Tehran and Moscow.
• The comments come as Iran faces widespread protests and a mounting internal crisis.
• Human rights group HRANA says at least 544 people have been killed in nationwide unrest, with dozens of additional cases under review.
• An opposition group, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), has put the death toll at more than 3,000, although figures are difficult to verify due to internet blackouts imposed by Iranian authorities. Also Read: Iran’s Moment of Choice - Return of Exiled Prince, Khamenei’s 'Plan B' - and An Unanswered Question US President Donald Trump has responded with increasingly sharp rhetoric.