The president said the United States was ‘locked and loaded and ready to go’ in a post on Truth Social.
President Donald Trump on Jan. 2 vowed to come to the aid of protesters in Iran if they are killed by the regime in Tehran.
Several people have already been killed in the Islamic Republic after demonstrations over the nation’s ailing economy turned violent, Iranian media and rights groups reported on Jan. 1.
If Iran shoots and “violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“We are locked and loaded and ready to go. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President Donald J.Trump,” he added.
Trump’s post soon elicited a response from the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, Ali Larijani, who wrote on X, which is banned in the country, that Iran distinguished between protestors and “disruptive actors.”
“Trump should know that U.S. interference in this internal matter would mean destabilizing the entire region and destroying America’s interests,” the former parliamentary speaker said.
“The American people should know—Trump started this adventurism. They should be mindful of their soldiers’ safety.”
The Norway-based Kurdish NGO Hengaw, which details human rights violations in Iran and the area known as Kurdistan, part of which lies on Iranian territory, put the total number of dead at seven late on Jan. 1.
The Fars news agency reported that three protestors were killed and 17 were injured in a police station attack in Iran’s western province of Lorestan.
Hengaw later reported that one of the trio who lost their lives in Lorestan was a 15-year-old boy, and that a total of 29 people had been arrested.
The protests have escalated as the biggest in Iran since 2022, when the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody sparked nationwide unrest.
The protestors entered the police headquarters at around 6 p.m. local time on Jan. 1 and clashed with police and set fire to several police cars, according to Fars.
Responding to the government’s management of a sharp currency slide and rapidly rising prices, shopkeepers began protesting on Dec. 28, 2025. Clashes between protestors and security forces have intensified since then.
By Guy Birchall
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