Trump says US will intervene if Iran ‘violently suppresses peaceful protests’

WASHINGTON:  US President Donald Trump on Friday said that if Iran shoots and violently kills “peaceful protesters,” the United States of America will come to their rescue.

“We are locked and loaded and ready to go,” he said in a Truth Social post.

This follows the deaths of several people as Iran’s biggest protests in three years over economic hardship turned violent across multiple provinces.

The clashes between protesters and security forces mark a significant escalation in the unrest that has spread across the country since shopkeepers began protesting on Sunday over the government’s handling of a sharp currency slide and rapidly rising prices.

Iran’s economy has struggled for years since the US reimposed sanctions in 2018, after Trump withdrew from an international nuclear agreement during his first term.

On Thursday, Iran’s Fars news agency reported two people killed in clashes between security forces and protesters in the city of Lordegan, in the province of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, and three in Azna, in neighbouring Lorestan province.

“Some protesters began throwing stones at the city’s administrative buildings, including the provincial governor’s office, the mosque, the Martyrs’ Foundation, the town hall and banks,” Fars said of Lordegan, adding police responded with tear gas.

Fars reported that the buildings were “severely damaged” and that police arrested several people described as “ringleaders”.

In Azna, Fars said “rioters took advantage of a protest gathering… to attack a police commissariat”.

During previous protest movements, state media has labelled demonstrators “rioters”.

Earlier Thursday, state television reported that a member of Iran’s security forces was killed overnight during protests in the western city of Kouhdasht.

“A 21-year-old member of the Basij from the city of Kouhdasht was killed last night by rioters while defending public order,” the channel said, citing Said Pourali, the deputy governor of Lorestan Province.

The Basij are a volunteer paramilitary force linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, the ideological arm of the Islamic republic.

Pourali said that “during the demonstrations in Kouhdasht, 13 police officers and Basij members were injured by stone throwing”. Monitoring Desk