President Trump says the US will ‘defeat’ Iran if it rebuilds its nuclear program
President Donald Trump said the United States would “defeat” Iran if it rebuilt its nuclear program.
WASHINGTON – As protests in Iran sparked by the country’s economic downturn enter their sixth day, President Donald Trump has vowed the United States will intervene if Iran kills peaceful protesters.
“If Iran shoots and violently kills peaceful protesters, as is their practice, the United States will come to their aid. We are locked in, loaded up and ready to go,” President Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform early on January 2nd.
The protests come as Iran’s inflation soars following years of sanctions from the United States and other countries that have crippled Iran’s economy. The demonstrations left several people dead and posed the biggest domestic threat to Iranian authorities in years.
Earlier this week, President Trump threatened to “drive the hell out” of Iran if it tries to rebuild its arms supply after Israel and the United States attacked Iran’s nuclear and missile programs in June. President Trump made the comments during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.
Reacting to President Trump’s recent remarks, Iranian official Ali Larijani warned that US intervention in Iran’s domestic affairs is tantamount to destabilizing the entire region. Iran supports groups in Lebanon, Iraq, and Yemen.
Trump’s comments came as state media quoted local officials in western Iran, where several deaths have been reported, as warning that violence and illegal gatherings would be dealt with “firmly and without mercy” and that the situation was likely to escalate.
State media and human rights groups have reported at least six deaths since Wednesday, including one man who authorities said was a member of the Basij paramilitary group affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards.
This week’s protests were the largest in three years since nationwide demonstrations sparked by the death of a young woman in detention in late 2022 paralyzed Iran for weeks, with human rights groups reporting hundreds of deaths.
Contributed by: Reuters
X Contact Joey Garrison at @joeygarrison.
