Trump vows to ‘rescue’ protestors amid Iran unrest: ‘We are locked and loaded’

by Max Rego

President Trump early Friday warned Iran that the U.S. will “rescue” protesters in the nation if the regime further escalates its response to “peaceful” demonstrations.

“If Iran [shoots] and violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “We are locked and loaded and ready to go.”

Protests kicked off over the weekend in Iran amid worsening economic conditions in the Middle Eastern country. They mark the largest demonstrations in the nation since 2022, when 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died in police custody. 

The Hengaw Organization for Human Rights said Thursday that Iranian authorities have detained at least 29 demonstrators amid the protests.

On the same day, at least three protesters were killed and 17 others wounded during an attack on a police station in Iran’s western province of Lorestan, according to the semiofficial Far News Agency.

Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) said Friday that the “vast majority of Iranians want freedom, a government that respects individual liberties and a country that is at peace with its neighbors.”

“The Iranian people have been abused by their own government for way too long,” Bacon wrote on social platform X.

Ali Larijani, the secretary of Iran’s national security council, said Friday in a post online that the U.S. and Israel are behind much of the protests, without providing evidence. 

“We distinguish between the stance of the protesting shopkeepers and the actions of disruptive actors, and Trump should know that U.S. interference in this internal matter would mean destabilizing the entire region and destroying America’s interests,” Larijani wrote on X.

“The American people should know — Trump started this adventurism,” he continued. “They should be mindful of their soldiers’ safety.”

Trump also threatened Iran on Monday, after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Florida, over concerns it is boosting its production of ballistic missiles and preparing for tests, saying, “If it’s confirmed, look, there will be consequences.”

The U.S. attacked three Iranian nuclear sites in June. The president also backed an Israeli attack on Iran if Tehran continues to expand its nuclear program.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian wrote Tuesday that Iran’s response “to any oppressive aggression” would be “harsh and regrettable.”