Trump Says U.S. Is ‘Locked and Loaded’ if Iran Kills Protesters

Mr. Trump’s remarks that he was ready to come to the protesters’ “rescue” are a sharp escalation as protests over economic hardship turned deadly.

President Trump said on Friday that the United States would come to the aid of protesters in Iran if the government there used lethal force against them, in a sharp escalation of remarks after days of widespread demonstrations against the Iranian government.

The comments came a day after reports from Iranian state media and activists said that at least one person had been killed in clashes between protesters and security forces, as officials tried to contain protests incited by economic distress.

The demonstrations, which began among business owners and university students in major Iranian cities, have also spread to smaller towns. Several security officers have been injured in the protests, the authorities said. Semiofficial news outlets and a human rights organization reported clashes and fatalities during protests in the western city of Lordegan on Thursday, though the accounts could not be independently confirmed.

If Iran “violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue,” Mr. Trump said in a post on Truth Social early Friday morning. “We are locked and loaded and ready to go.”

It was not possible to tell whether there had been any planning for such a move or whether the administration would actually follow through on Mr. Trump’s threat.

Ali Larijani, the head of Iran’s top security body, said in a post on social media on Friday that Mr. Trump “should know that U.S. interference in this internal matter would mean destabilizing the entire region and destroying America’s interests.”

He added: “The American people should know — Trump started this adventurism.”

Protests erupted across Iran this week amid soaring prices and a collapsing currency that has shaken the economy and pushed many Iranians into deeper economic hardship. The country’s currency fell to a record low against the U.S. dollar last weekend, while annual inflation climbed to 42.2 percent in December.

Iranian authorities have met past protest movements with force, detaining demonstrators and, at times, killing them. This time, officials say they are seeking talks with protest organizers and other representatives, with senior leaders even striking a more conciliatory tone.

Mr. Trump’s remarks come just six months after the United States carried out airstrikes on several of Iran’s nuclear facilities. In a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel this week, Mr. Trump said the United States would back Israeli strikes on Iran if Iran continued with its ballistic missile and nuclear weapon program. The president said he had received reports that Iran may be attempting to revive its nuclear program but offered no further details.

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