US President Donald Trump and senior Iranian officials traded sharp warnings on Friday as protests spread across parts of the Islamic Republic, further escalating tensions following US air strikes on Iranian nuclear sites in June.
At least 8 people have been killed in violence linked to the demonstrations, which were initially sparked by the collapse of Iran’s rial currency but have increasingly featured chants against the government.
The protests, now in their sixth day, are the largest Iran has seen since 2022, when the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody triggered nationwide unrest. However, they have not yet reached the same scale or intensity as those protests, which followed Amini’s arrest over not wearing her hijab to the satisfaction of authorities.
Trump post sparks quick Iranian response
Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform that if Iran “violently kills peaceful protesters,” the United States “will come to their rescue.”
“We are locked and loaded and ready to go,” Trump wrote, without providing further details.
Ali Larijani, a former parliament speaker and current secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, accused Israel and the US of fuelling the unrest, without offering evidence, an allegation Iranian officials have repeatedly made during previous protest waves.
“Trump should know that intervention by the US in the domestic problem corresponds to chaos in the entire region and the destruction of the US interests,” Larijani wrote on X, which is blocked in Iran.
“The people of the US should know that Trump began the adventurism. They should take care of their own soldiers.”
Larijani’s comments appeared to refer to the extensive US military presence in the region. In June, Iran attacked Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar after US strikes on 3 nuclear sites during Israel’s 12 day war with Iran. No injuries were reported, although a missile struck a structure at the base.
A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military matters, said that as of Friday there had been no major changes to US troop levels or military preparations in the Middle East following Trump’s remarks.
In a letter sent late Friday to United Nations Secretary General António Guterres and the UN Security Council, Iran’s envoy urged the international body to condemn the rhetoric and reaffirm Iran’s “inherent right to defend its sovereignty, territorial integrity, and national security, and to protect its people against any foreign interference.”
“The United States of America bears full responsibility for any consequences arising from these unlawful threats and any ensuing escalation,” said Amir Saeid Iravani, Iran’s ambassador to the UN.
Ali Shamkhani, an adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and former secretary of the council, separately warned that “any interventionist hand that gets too close to the security of Iran will be cut.”
US signals support for protesters
Trump’s post marked a rare and direct show of support by a US president for Iranian demonstrators, something previous administrations have largely avoided out of concern that protesters would be portrayed as working with the West. During the 2009 Green Movement, President Barack Obama refrained from publicly backing protesters, later saying in 2022 that doing so “was a mistake.”
Analysts warn that such support carries risks.
“Though the grievances that fuel these and past protests are due to the Iranian government's own policies, they are likely to use President Trump's statement as proof that the unrest is driven by external actors,” said Naysan Rafati, an analyst at the International Crisis Group.
“But using that as a justification to crack down more violently risks inviting the very US involvement Trump has hinted at,” he added.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei has recently pointed to a long list of Iranian grievances over US intervention, including the CIA backed coup in 1953, the downing of a passenger jet in 1988, and the June strikes.
Protests sweep Iran
Demonstrations continued on Friday in multiple cities, even as daily life in the capital, Tehran, appeared largely unaffected. The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency reported that protests had reached more than 100 locations across 22 of Iran’s 31 provinces. It said the death toll rose to 8 following the killing of a demonstrator in Marvdasht, in Fars province.
Protesters also gathered in Zahedan, in the restive Sistan and Baluchestan province near the Pakistan border. Funerals for several demonstrators killed in the unrest took place on Friday, prompting further marches.
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