President Donald Trump has called for “new leadership” in Iran after reading a series of social media posts from the country’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, on Saturday, POLITICO reported.

Khamenei said "several thousand deaths" happened during the protests, and accused the U.S. and Israel of organizing the violence.

The regime may have been able to crush the latest wave of protests using its tried-and-tested playbook of repression. But the fundamental grievances animating protesters haven’t gone away.

There is currently no aircraft carrier in the Middle East, although officials say there are six Navy ships, including three missile destroyers. The Pentagon declined to comment.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday branded President Donald Trump a “criminal” for publicly backing the protests sweeping Iran, accusing the United States of fueling violence and saying U.S. agents have “murdered several thousand people,” according to a state broadcast and his social media posts.

Emerging on Tuesday from a late-night Situation Room meeting to discuss options for striking Iran, some of President Donald Trump’s top national security officials were relatively sure a decision on military action was close at hand.

The country's leader criticized President Trump on Saturday, blaming him for "casualties, damages and accusations" against Iran.

President Trump thanks Iran for stopping mass executions and signals a step back from earlier suggestions of possible U.S. military action as protests continue.

The bloody reprisals against protesters are the culmination of decades in which the regime’s "propensity and ability to use violence" has only increased, analysts say.