{"id":487292,"date":"2026-01-02T14:47:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T14:47:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/487292\/"},"modified":"2026-01-02T14:47:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T14:47:12","slug":"trump-exchanges-threats-with-iran-officials-over-protests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/487292\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump exchanges threats with Iran officials over protests"},"content":{"rendered":"

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) \u2014 U.S. President Donald Trump and top Iranian officials exchanged dueling threats Friday as widening protests<\/a> swept across parts of the Islamic Republic, further escalating tensions between the countries after America bombed Iranian nuclear sites in June<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At least seven people have been killed<\/a> so far in violence surrounding the demonstrations, which were sparked in part by the collapse of Iran\u2019s rial currency but have increasingly seen crowds chanting anti-government slogans.<\/p>\n

The protests, now in their sixth day, have become the biggest in Iran since 2022, when the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini<\/a> in police custody triggered nationwide demonstrations. However, the demonstrations have yet to be countrywide and have not been as intense as those surrounding the death of Amini, who was detained over not wearing her hijab, or headscarf, to the liking of authorities. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Locals<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Trump post sparks quick Iranian response<\/p>\n

Trump initially wrote on his Truth Social platform, warning Iran that if it \u201cviolently kills peaceful protesters,\u201d the United States \u201cwill come to their rescue.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are locked and loaded and ready to go,\u201d Trump wrote, without elaborating.<\/p>\n

Shortly after, Ali Larijani, a former parliament speaker who serves as the secretary of Iran\u2019s Supreme National Security Council, alleged on the social platform X that Israel and the U.S. were stoking the demonstrations. He offered no evidence to support the allegation, which Iranian officials have repeatedly made during years of protests sweeping the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrump should know that intervention by the U.S. in the domestic problem corresponds to chaos in the entire region and the destruction of the U.S. interests,\u201d Larijani wrote on X, which the Iranian government blocks. \u201cThe people of the U.S. should know that Trump began the adventurism. They should take care of their own soldiers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Larijani\u2019s remarks likely referenced America\u2019s wide military footprint in the region. Iran in June attacked Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar<\/a> after the U.S. strikes on three nuclear sites during Israel\u2019s 12-day war on the Islamic Republic. No one was injured though a missile did hit a radome there.<\/p>\n

Ali Shamkhani, an adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who previously was the council\u2019s secretary for years, separately warned that \u201cany interventionist hand that gets too close to the security of Iran will be cut.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people of Iran properly know the experience of \u2018being rescued\u2019 by Americans: from Iraq and Afghanistan to Gaza,\u201d he added on X. <\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s hard-liner parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf also threatened that all American bases and forces would be \u201clegitimate targets.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei also responded, citing a list of Tehran\u2019s longtime grievances against the U.S., including a CIA-backed coup<\/a> in 1953, the downing of a passenger jet<\/a> in 1988 and taking part in the June war. <\/p>\n

The Iranian response came as the protests shake what has been a common refrain from officials in the theocracy \u2014 that the country broadly backed its government after the war. <\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s online message marked a direct sign of support for the demonstrators, something that other American presidents have avoided out of concern that activists would be accused of working with the West. During Iran\u2019s 2009 Green Movement demonstrations<\/a>, President Barack Obama held back from publicly backing the protests \u2014 something he said in 2022 \u201cwas a mistake.\u201d <\/p>\n

But such White House support still carries a risk. <\/p>\n

\u201cThough the grievances that fuel these and past protests are due to the Iranian government\u2019s own policies, they are likely to use President Trump\u2019s statement as proof that the unrest is driven by external actors,\u201d said Naysan Rafati, an analyst at the International Crisis Group. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut using that as a justification to crack down more violently risks inviting the very U.S. involvement Trump has hinted at,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Protests continue Friday<\/p>\n

Demonstrators took to the streets Friday in Zahedan in Iran\u2019s restive Sistan and Baluchestan province on the border with Pakistan. The burials of several demonstrators killed in the protests also took place, sparking marches. <\/p>\n

Online video purported to show mourners chasing off security force members who attended the funeral of 21-year-old Amirhessam Khodayari. He was killed Wednesday in Kouhdasht, over 400 kilometers (250 miles) southwest of Tehran in Iran\u2019s Lorestan province. <\/p>\n

Video also showed Khodayari\u2019s father denying his son served in the all-volunteer Basij force of Iran\u2019s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, as authorities claimed. The semiofficial Fars news agency later reported that there were now questions about the government\u2019s claims that he served. <\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s civilian government under reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian has been trying to signal it wants to negotiate with protesters. However, Pezeshkian has acknowledged there is not much he can do as Iran\u2019s rial has rapidly depreciated, with $1 now costing some 1.4 million rials. That sparked the initial protests.<\/p>\n

The protests, taking root in economic issues, have heard demonstrators chant against Iran\u2019s theocracy as well. Tehran has had little luck in propping up its economy in the months since the June war.<\/p>\n

Iran recently said it was no longer enriching uranium<\/a> at any site in the country, trying to signal to the West that it remains open to potential negotiations over its atomic program to ease sanctions. However, those talks have yet to happen as Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have warned Tehran against reconstituting its atomic program<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) \u2014 U.S. President Donald Trump and top Iranian officials exchanged dueling threats Friday…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":487293,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3495,220039,3881,11744,372,69,14238,57,51,83,3461,14241,220040,50,80,402,52,11084,107,24724],"class_list":{"0":"post-487292","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-ali-larijani","9":"tag-ali-shamkhani","10":"tag-ap-top-news","11":"tag-barack-obama","12":"tag-benjamin-netanyahu","13":"tag-donald-trump","14":"tag-esmail-baghaei","15":"tag-general-news","16":"tag-headlines","17":"tag-iran","18":"tag-iran-government","19":"tag-masoud-pezeshkian","20":"tag-mohammad-bagher-qalibaf","21":"tag-news","22":"tag-politics","23":"tag-protests-and-demonstrations","24":"tag-top-stories","25":"tag-trump-media-technology-group","26":"tag-world-news","27":"tag-x-corp"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115826055180427946","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=487292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487292\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/487293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=487292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=487292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=487292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}