{"id":282445,"date":"2026-01-13T18:52:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T18:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/282445\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T18:52:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T18:52:09","slug":"trump-tells-iranians-help-is-on-its-way-and-urges-them-to-continue-protesting-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/282445\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump tells Iranians \u2018help is on its way\u2019 and urges them to continue protesting \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

US<\/a> president Donald Trump<\/a> has said that \u201chelp is on its way\u201d for protesters in Iran<\/a> as he urged them to take over the country\u2019s institutions, in his strongest signal yet that the US could intervene in the country.<\/p>\n

In a post on his Truth Social platform on Tuesday, the US president added that he had cancelled \u201call meetings\u201d with Iranian officials until killings of the protesters had stopped.<\/p>\n

\u201cIranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING \u2013 TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!!\u201d Trump wrote. \u201cSave the names of the killers and abusers. They will pay a big price … HELP IS ON ITS WAY.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Trump has been weighing a possible military intervention in Iran, where nationwide demonstrations<\/a> erupted in late December over the regime\u2019s failure to stabilise the economy.<\/p>\n

Officials in western capitals believe the US is stepping up preparations for an attack. Asked whether US allies should evacuate Iran, Mr Trump said: \u201cThey should get out … It\u2019s a good idea.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"IraniansIranians attend an anti-government protest in Tehran. Photograph: AP <\/p>\n

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Tuesday that Mr Trump\u2019s top national security advisers, including secretary of state Marco Rubio and defence secretary Pete Hegseth, had met earlier in the day to discuss options for Iran.<\/p>\n

The meeting did not include Mr Trump, whom, Ms Leavitt said, was never planning to attend. <\/p>\n

Activist groups outside Iran have estimated that the number of people killed in the protests could range from the hundreds to thousands, including members of the security forces, and many more have been detained as the regime has intensified its crackdown.<\/p>\n

While the protests rocked Iran last week, in recent days in Tehran there have been signs of some return to normality, with people venturing from their homes to buy groceries and go to work.<\/p>\n

Reporting on the crisis has been impeded by an internet blackout that was imposed by the regime when the protests escalated last week, cutting the country off from the outside world.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0A collapse of Iran\u2019s regime requires two crucial conditionsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

On Sunday, Mr Trump said the US military was \u201clooking at [taking action in Iran], and we\u2019re looking at some very strong options\u201d, and that Tehran had started crossing his red line with its intensifying crackdown on protesters.<\/p>\n

The White House subsequently said that air strikes were among the \u201cmany, many options\u201d on the table for Mr Trump.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe president has shown he\u2019s unafraid to use military options if and when he deems necessary,\u201d said Ms Leavitt.<\/p>\n

Current and former defence officials have indicated that the US has the assets in place to launch an attack on Iran, even if an aircraft carrier is not in position.<\/p>\n

Possible US targets include Iran\u2019s military infrastructure, as well as that of the revolutionary guards. Washington could also hit command and control centres and warehouses used by the government and its militias, or target specific Iranian leaders.<\/p>\n

\"\"Is the regime in Iran about to fall? <\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s foreign minister Abbas Araqchi said his country was ready for a military escalation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Washington wants to test the military option it has tested before, we are ready for it,\u201d Mr Araqchi said in an interview with Al Jazeera Arabic on Monday night, adding that he hoped the US would choose a \u201cwise approach\u201d of dialogue.<\/p>\n

Mr Araqchi also said that communications with US special envoy Steve Witkoff had \u201ccontinued before and after the protests and are still ongoing\u201d, though Mr Trump\u2019s Tuesday post threw the status of the dialogue between the two countries into question.<\/p>\n

Protesters gathered on a highway in northeastern Iran chanting slogans as fires burned around them. Videos posted to social media January 10th. Video: Reuters <\/p>\n

Qatar\u2019s foreign ministry warned on Tuesday that an escalation \u201cwould have catastrophic results in the region\u201d.<\/p>\n

It added that Doha was \u201ctalking to all parties, obviously with our neighbours and our partners in the region to find a diplomatic solution\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mr Trump has said his administration has been looking into how to help Iranians regain access to the internet amid a sweeping blackout, including discussions with Elon Musk about his Starlink network.<\/p>\n

He also announced a 25 per cent tariff on countries \u201cdoing business with Iran\u201d this week. \u2013 Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"US president Donald Trump has said that \u201chelp is on its way\u201d for protesters in Iran as he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":282446,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[9,10,356,13,14,6,18929,135856,11,12,15,16,5,7,8,384,1411,65,66,67],"class_list":{"0":"post-282445","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-donald-trump","11":"tag-featured-news","12":"tag-featurednews","13":"tag-headlines","14":"tag-iran","15":"tag-iran-protests","16":"tag-latest-news","17":"tag-latestnews","18":"tag-main-news","19":"tag-mainnews","20":"tag-news","21":"tag-top-stories","22":"tag-topstories","23":"tag-united-states","24":"tag-us-tariffs","25":"tag-world","26":"tag-world-news","27":"tag-worldnews"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115889303968765354","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282445\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/282446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}