Iran's foreign minister on Friday launched a furious tirade against Volodymyr Zelensky after the Ukrainian president commented in Davos that the deadly crackdown on protests in Iran showed that if authorities "kill enough people" they stay in power.
Zelensky, whose country has been fighting the full-scale Russian invasion for almost four years, said in a speech at the World Economic Forum on Thursday that if Iran's clerical leadership was able to remain in power, it was a "clear signal to every bully".
Russian President Vladimir Putin is an ally of Iran’s leadership under Ali Khamenei and last week held telephone talks with President Masoud Pezeshkian, with both sides agreeing to ramp up bilateral ties.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi responded to Zelensky's comments with a broadside of accusations and claims in an English-language post on X, saying the Ukrainian leader had been "rinsing American and European taxpayers to fill the pockets of his corrupt generals".
"The world has had enough of Confused Clowns, Mr Zelensky," he said, in apparent reference to the Ukrainian leader's previous career as a wildly-successful comedian and comic actor.
"Unlike your foreign-backed and mercenary-infested military, we Iranians know how to defend ourselves and have no need to beg foreigners for help," he added.
Foreigners are fighting in the Ukrainian army but make up only a tiny percentage of the armed forces.
- 'Drowned in blood' -
Kyiv and the West accuse Iran of providing drones and ballistic missiles to Russia for use in Ukraine. Tehran has repeatedly denied sending any weapons to Russia.
In his speech in Davos, Zelensky appeared to cite the response to the protests as another example of Western inaction in the face of aggression.
"There was so much talk about the protests in Iran -- but they drowned in blood. The world has not helped enough the Iranian people, it has stood aside," he said, speaking in English.
Zelensky noted that the start of the protests coincided with the Christmas and New Year holidays in Europe.
"What will Iran become after this bloodshed? If the regime survives, it sends a clear signal to every bully -- kill enough people, and you stay in power," he said.
Iranian authorities have said well over 3,000 people were killed in the protests but have blamed the violence on "rioters" backed by the United States and Israel.
Rights groups however say the toll is far higher and could be as much as 20,000, adding that confirming the numbers is hugely impeded by the now two-week shutdown of the internet in Iran.
NGOs, including Amnesty International, have accused security forces of deliberately firing on protesters to suppress the demonstrations, which have now petered out.
