File image.
President Donald Trump said on January 2 that the United States is “locked and loaded and ready to go,” threatening that Washington would step in if Iran “shoots and violently kills peaceful protesters.”
“If Iran shoots 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!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social network.
Iran has been witnessing protests since December 28, when shopkeepers first took to the streets to condemn the government’s handling of a sharp currency slide and rapidly rising prices.
The protests escalated into deadly clashes with security forces on January 1. According to the semi-official Fars news agency, three protesters were killed and 17 were injured during an attack on a police station in Iran’s western province of Lorestan. Authorities confirmed one death in the city of Kuhdasht in the province.
Fars and rights group Hengaw reported more deaths in Lordegan city in the country’s southwestern Charmahal and Bakhtiari province, as well as in the central province of Isfahan.
President Masoud Pezeshkian acknowledged public discontent, saying the government bears responsibility for the current economic problems and urging officials not to blame external actors such as the U.S.
Earlier this week, Trump said after a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he would back a new Israeli attack on Iran if the latter “will continue with missiles”.
Trump, however, said that he won’t “talk about the overthrow of a regime” after being asked if he would back toppling the Islamic Republic in Iran.
“I mean, I’m not going to talk about overthrow of a regime. They’ve got a lot of problems they are in. They have tremendous inflation. Their economy is bust, they’re economy is no good. And I know that people aren’t so happy,” Trump said.
Responding to Trump’s latest threat, Ali Shamkhani, a prominent advisor to the Iranian supreme leader who survived an assassination attempt during the 12-day June war with severe wounds, vowed to cut any “hand” that attempts to intervene in the Islamic Republic.
“The people of Iran know the Americans’ “rescue” experience well; from Iraq and Afghanistan to Gaza.
Any meddling hand that approaches Iran’s security under any pretext will be cut off before it reaches, with a regret-inducing response.
Iran’s national security is a red line, not a stage for adventurous tweets.” he wrote on the X social network.
Over the past few weeks it became clear that the U.S. and Israel are preparing a case for a new war with Iran, with several reports by Hebrew, Western and even Persian pro-opposition media focused on Iran’s attempt to rebuild and expand its missile program. Now, Trump is trying to use the economically-motivated protests as another pretext.
This attempt to encourage the protests could, however, back fire. The last war saw Israeli strikes killing over 1,000 Iranians, including women and children, with airstrikes hitting residential centers at the heart of Tehran. Due to this, many on the side of the opposition ended up condemning the war.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence
NOW hosted at southfront.press
Previously, SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence was at southfront.org.
The .org domain name had been blocked by the US (NATO) (https://southfront.press/southfront-org-blocked-by-u-s-controlled-global-internet-supervisor/) globally, outlawed and without any explanation
Back before that, from 2013 to 2015, SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence was at southfront.com
murica should stick to killing off their own citizens, as is their habit. no need to preach to iran while pretending to be world cop.
so full of **it.
persians are already tired of the iranian supreme dicktator. time for that old shitty warlock to cut his own head off.
carpet bomb the fuckin protesters iran !
i will carpet bomb your face
carpet bomb yo mama.
any iranian who sides with the us and israel while their country is under attack deserves to be shot.
any idiot who sides with a fanatic islamic dicktator / cleric deserves to be shot sevenfold by sevenfold
first he was saving the christians…well, except for those in israel and syria who they’re killing. now he wants to save the iranian people that he and nutsack bombed. what a guy, what a hero, what a lying piece of shit .
ayatollah assahola is afraid of its own people. i am now in my toilet praying for allah to save me. i am a dicktator