President Donald Trump said the United States will intervene if Iran shoots and kills protesters demonstrating against deteriorating economic conditions in the country.
“If Iran shots (sic) and violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue. We are locked and loaded and ready to go. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J.TRUMP,” he wrote on Truth Social on Friday.
Dozens of protesters took to the streets across several provinces of Iran this week, with some demonstrations which turned deadly.
Iranian officials issued a stern warning against US intervention in the country’s internal affairs. Ali Larijani, Iran’s national security chief, said on X that American interference would trigger “disruption across the entire region and the destruction of American interests.” Ali Shamkhani, a close adviser to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, declared Iran’s national security a “red line.”
“Every hand of intervention that approaches Iranian security…will be cut off with a regrettable response,” Shamkhani said on X.
At least three people were killed and 17 others injured on Thursday evening when protesters stormed a police station in the city of Azna in Iran western Lorestan province, the state-affiliated.
According to report, the protesters clashed with police, threw stones at law enforcement personnel and set cars on fire, adding that, some armed “rioters took advantage” of a protest in the city.
On Thursday morning, at least two people were killed when dozens of protesters clashed with the police in Lordegan county of the southwest Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province.
It remained unclear if the casualties were among law enforcement authorities or protesters.
The first known death linked to the protests occurred on Wednesday night, when one member of Iran’s Basij paramilitary force was killed, and 13 others injured in the city of Kuhdasht in Lorestan province, per state-affiliated media. Fars News Agency showed a video of a member of the police force receiving treatment after allegedly being set on fire by protesters.
The Basij is often deployed by the regime to suppress protests.
Twenty people were arrested in the protests, the prosecutor of Kuhdasht said Thursday, according to state-affiliated news agency Tasnim.
Twenty people were arrested in the protests, the prosecutor of Kuhdasht said Thursday, according to state-affiliated news agency Tasnim.
In Tehran province’s Malard county, authorities arrested 30 people for “disrupting public disorder,” according to Fars. The agency cited a county official Mansour Saleki, who said those arrested were “abusing the legal right of citizens to protest”
Despite being so far limited, the protests marked the latest chapter in the growing discontent in Iran, as a population quietly reclaimed public spaces and personal freedoms through uncoordinated acts of defiance.
Follow us on Telegram and YouTube, and join our WhatsApp Update Group for more news updates.
CNN/Taiwo Akinola
