Senior hard-line cleric in Iran calls for executions over protests — threatens Trump

As Iran returned to uneasy calm after a wave of protests that drew a harsh crackdown, a senior hard-line cleric called Friday for the death penalty for detained demonstrators and directly threatened U.S. President Donald Trump — evidence of the rage gripping authorities in the Islamic Republic.

Harsh repression that has left several thousand people dead appears to have succeeded in stifling the demonstrations, which began Dec. 28 over Iran’s ailing economy and soon morphed into protests directly challenging the country’s theocracy.

There have been no signs of protests for days in Tehran, where shopping and street life have returned to outward normality, though a week-old internet blackout continued. Authorities have not reported any unrest elsewhere in the country.

A senior hard-line cleric called for the death penalty for