Trump Draws Red Line: US Will Act if Iran Kills Protesters
US President Donald Trump warns Iran against killing peaceful protesters, saying the United States is ready to step in if violence continues.
US President Donald Trump has warned Iranian authorities against killing peaceful protesters, saying that Washington will "come to their aid."
In a short post on social media, he wrote: "We are ready and waiting." He did not provide any further details.
A senior adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, responded by saying that Trump should "be careful" if he intervenes, and warned of potential chaos across the Middle East.
At least six people were reported killed in Iran on Thursday following nearly a week of mass protests fueled by worsening economic conditions.
Trump wrote: "If Iran fires on peaceful protesters and violently kills them, as they are wont to do, the United States will come to their aid."
Khamenei's adviser, Ali Larijani, warned shortly afterward that any US intervention would destabilize the region.
He wrote, "Trump should know that US interference in this internal matter would destabilize the entire region and harm US interests."
In his post, the US president did not clarify what action Washington might take against Iranian officials.
In June, the US carried out attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities on Trump's orders.
US officials later argued that these attacks significantly set back Tehran's ability to develop nuclear weapons—a claim Iran denies.
In response, Iran launched a missile attack on a major US military base in Qatar.
In Iran, six people were reported killed on Thursday, the fifth day of protests.
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According to the semi-official Fars news agency and the Hengao human rights group, two people were killed in clashes between protesters and security forces in the southwestern city of Lordagan.
Fars reported that three people were killed in Azna and one in Kuhdasht, all in the west of the country. The Fars News Agency did not clarify whether the dead were protesters or members of the security forces.
Hengao said the two people killed in Lohdegan were protesters, identified as Ahmad Jalil and Sajjad Valamanesh.
Footage posted on social media showed cars set on fire during clashes between protesters and security forces. Protests took place on Thursday in Lohdegan, Tehran, and Marvdasht in southern Fars province. Iranian officials had previously said that a member of the country's security forces was killed in the western city of Kohdasht on Wednesday. Protesters claim the man was one of them and was shot by security forces.
The protests began on Sunday among shopkeepers in Tehran, angered by another sharp drop in the value of the Iranian rial against the US dollar in the open market.
By Tuesday, university students had joined in, and the protests had spread to several cities, with people chanting slogans against the country's religious rulers.
Since then, many protesters have been demanding the overthrow of Khamenei's rule. Some have said they want the return of the monarchy.
These protests are the largest since the 2022 uprising following the custodial death of Mahsa Amini, a young woman arrested by morality police for not wearing a hijab properly, but they are not on the same scale.
President Masoud Pezeshkian has said he will listen to the protesters' "legitimate demands."
However, the country's Attorney General, Mohammad Movahedi-Azad, warned that any attempt to create instability would be met with a "decisive response."
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