Trump says if Iran “kills peaceful protesters,” the U.S. will “come to their rescue”

President Trump warned Friday in a social media post that if Iran “violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue.”

Mr. Trump offer no further comment on Iran or how the U.S. might intervene to protect protesters in the country in the post on his Truth Social network, which was published just before 3 a.m. Eastern, but he said: “We are locked and loaded and ready to go.”

It came hours after reports that at least six people have been killed amid nearly a week of escalating protests in Iran. The unrest began last weekend as business owners voiced frustration at the dire economic conditions in the Islamic Republic. 

Iran has been plagued for years by staggering hyperinflation, fueled by Western sanctions imposed over the hardline clerical government’s nuclear program and backing for militant groups across the region.

Videos and photos from Tehran and other cities posted on social media have shown protesters marching through streets from early this week, often chanting anti-government, pro-monarchy slogans and sometimes clashing violently with security forces.

In an apparent bid to quell the unrest, Iranian authorities have acknowledged the economic concerns and said peaceful protests are legitimate, but suggested that foreign powers — usually a reference to Israel and the U.S. — are behind subversive elements fueling violence on the streets.

Both the U.S. and Israeli governments had issued statements in support of the protests prior to Mr. Trump’s warning of a possible, undefined U.S. intervention on Friday morning.  

“The people of Iran want freedom. They have suffered at the hands of the Ayatollahs for too long,” Mike Waltz, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, said in a post on X earlier this week. “We stand with Iranians in the streets of Tehran and across the country as they protest a radical regime that has brought them nothing but economic downturn and war.”

Tension between the U.S. and Iran escalated this week on the heels of a visit to the U.S. by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has campaigned his country’s close allies in Washington for decades to take a tougher stance on Iran.

After meeting with Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Sunday, Mr. Trump said he had heard that Iran could be attempting to rebuild its nuclear program following the unprecedented U.S. strikes on its enrichment facilities in June. Mr. Trump warned that if Iran did try to rebuild, “we’ll knock them down. We’ll knock the hell out of them. But hopefully that’s not happening.”

On Tuesday, Iranian President Mahsoud Pezeshkian said Tehran would respond “to any cruel aggression” with unspecified “harsh and discouraging” measures.

Iran is no stranger to nationwide protests, and the latest demonstrations have not come close to the last major outbreak in 2022, which was triggered by the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, a young Iranian woman.

Her death in custody after being arrested for allegedly violating the nation’s strict dress code for women sparked a wave of anger across the nation. Several hundred people were killed, including dozens of members of the security forces, who waged a dramatic crackdown in response, arresting hundreds of people.

There were also widespread protests in 2019, sparked by a sharp increase in the price of petrol.

The standoff between Iran and the U.S. over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program reached a crescendo in June, when Mr. Trump ordered the deadly military strikes against Iran’s enrichment facilities, as Israel also carried out strikes on the country.

While Mr. Trump indicated earlier this week that the U.S. could take new action if Iran were to rebuild its nuclear program, Friday’s brief post on social media was the first suggestion of a possible American intervention on behalf of Iranian protesters.