US president’s posts that US will come to the rescue of protesters prompt warnings of ‘regret-inducing response’
Donald Trump has threatened to intervene in Iran if its government kills demonstrators, prompting warnings from senior Iranian officials that any American interference would cross a “red line”.
In a social media post on Friday, Trump said that if Iran were to shoot and kill protesters, the US would “come to their rescue”. He added “we are locked and loaded, and ready to go”, without explaining what that might mean in practice.
Protests in Iran are now in their sixth day, and are the largest since 2022, when the death in police custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini triggered demonstrations across the country. The current unrest was triggered by an unprecedented decline in the national currency on Sunday, with the Iranian rial dropping to about 1.4m to the US dollar, further exacerbating an already beleaguered economy.
Seven people have been killed, including a volunteer for the Basij security force, and videos have shown security forces carrying shotguns, with the sound of shooting in the background.
