Hard-line cleric calls for executions over protests across Iran

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

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