Iran’s supreme leader has publicly acknowledged for the first time that thousands of people have been killed in “inhumane and barbaric ways” during recent protests.

The violent response to the uprising has claimed 3,090 lives, according to the US-based Iranian Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), which some activist groups say far exceeds the death toll. The internet outage has made it extremely difficult to obtain clear information.

In a speech on Saturday, Khamenei said thousands of people had been killed and blamed the United States for the deaths.

president of the united states President Donald Trump recently urged Iranian demonstrators to “keep protesting” and threatened military intervention if security forces kill demonstrators.

Protests that began on December 28 over the economy have turned into calls for an end to Iran’s supreme leader’s rule.

The Iranian government called the demonstrations an “insurrection” supported by Iran’s enemies.

Protesters have been subjected to deadly armed attacks; Video of security forces firing on demonstrators Verified by both BBC Persian and BBC Verify.

Internet and communications services were also almost completely shut down in Iran. Overall connectivity on Saturday was at about 2% of normal levels, according to cyber monitoring firm Netblocks.

Reports of violence have decreased in recent days, but developments on the ground remain uncertain as internet access remains restricted.

A woman from Shiraz in southwestern Iran told BBC Persian: “Security forces are still patrolling on motorbikes to contain the situation, but overall things are returning to normal.”

In his speech on Saturday, Khamenei also said that Iran considers President Trump a “criminal” and that the United States must “take responsibility” for the recent unrest.

He also claimed on social media that “America’s goal is to swallow Iran.”

President Trump has not yet responded to the supreme leader and the BBC has contacted the White House for comment.

The U.S. State Department said Saturday that it had “heard reports that the Islamic Republic is preparing options to target U.S. military bases.”

The report said that if Iran launched such an attack, it would be met with a “very powerful military” and warned Iran “not to play games with President Trump.”

president of the united states said on wednesday He said it was said that “killings have stopped in Iran,” but added that he did not rule out military action against the country.

His comments came after the US and UK reduced the number of personnel at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.

Officials told the BBC’s US partner CBS that the partial US withdrawal was a “precautionary measure”.