Trump warns Iran the US is ‘locked and loaded’ if it ‘violently kills protesters’
Donald Trump has warned the US military is ‘ready to go’ if Iran violently kills any protesters.
The US President warned of intervention on Truth Social as Iran enters its fifth day of protests over the cost of living and the currency collapse.
At least five people are reported to have been killed during clashes with police forces, who have responded with tear gas and gunfire.
Trump wrote: ‘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!’
Protesters have called for the ending of the rule of the Supreme Leader, and some are even pushing for the return of the monarchy.
The protests have been dubbed as Iran’s ‘Tiananmen moment’, with crowds taking the to the streets across the country.
The protests are the largest since a wave of demonstrations rocked the country after Mahsa Amini, 22, died in police custody following her arrest for not wearing the hijab correctly.
At the time, Iranian police responded with force, imposing an internet shutdown and violently cracking down on demonstrations with teargas and gunfire.
Schools, universities and other public institutions were closed on Wednesday in an apparent attempt to quell the protests.
But videos circulating online show scores of people marching along a street in Tehran and chanting ‘Rest in peace Reza Shah’, a reference to the founder of the royal dynasty ousted in the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Protests also broke out at the technology university in the central city of Isfahan and institutions in the cities of Yazd and Zanjan, Ilna and state-run IRNA reported.
There have been a number of arrests and a heavy police presence at Tehran’s Grand Bazaar, which is where the protests began.
On Tuesday, Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian,said he has instructed the government to listen to the ‘legitimate demands’ of protesters.
A government spokesperson said that a mechanism for dialogue would be set up to have talks with leaders of the protest movement.
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