President Trump says Iran is no longer killing protesters
President Donald Trump has insisted that Iran has stopped killing protesters and vowed to take strong action if executions resume.
WASHINGTON, Jan 14 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that Iranian rebel leader Reza Pahlavi “seems like a very nice guy” but expressed uncertainty about whether Pahlavi could muster enough support in Iran to ultimately take power.
In an exclusive interview with Reuters from the Oval Office, President Trump said Iran’s clerical government could collapse, blamed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for stalled negotiations with Russia over the Ukraine war, and dismissed Republican criticism of the Justice Department’s investigation into Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.
President Trump has repeatedly threatened to intervene in aid to protesters in Iran, where thousands have reportedly been killed in a crackdown on an uprising against clerical rule. But he was reluctant to fully support Mr. Pahlavi, the son of Iran’s late shah who was ousted from power in 1979.
“He looks very good, but I don’t know how he’s going to play domestically,” Trump said. “And we’re not really at that point yet.
“I don’t know if his country will accept his leadership, but if they do, it doesn’t matter to me.”
Trump’s comments further called into question his ability to lead Iran, after he said last week that he had no plans to meet with Pahlavi.
Pahlavi, 65, who is based in the United States, has been living outside Iran since before his father was overthrown in the 1979 Islamic revolution and has become a prominent voice in the protests. Iran’s opposition is fragmented into rival groups and ideological factions, including monarchists who support Mr. Pahlavi, and appears to have little organized presence within the Islamic republic.
President Trump said the protests could cause the collapse of Tehran’s government, but in reality “any regime could collapse.”
“Whether it goes down or not, it’s going to be an interesting time,” he said.
Trump, who is completing the first year of his second term, sat behind a giant “desk of determination” and sipped a Diet Coke during the 30-minute interview. At one point, he held up a thick binder of documents documenting his accomplishments since taking office on January 20, 2025.
However, he pointed out that the ruling party often loses seats two years after a presidential election, and sought to live up to expectations for the Republican Party in November’s midterm parliamentary elections.
“Winning the president doesn’t mean winning the midterm elections,” he said. “But we’re going to work hard to win the midterm elections.”
Ukraine remains the main obstacle to peace agreement
Trump, who has struggled throughout his presidential term to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, said Zelenskyy was the main obstacle to resolving the four-year war, even though his campaign boasted he could end the war in a day.
President Trump has frequently criticized both Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Zelensky, but he was once again gloomy toward the Ukrainian president.
President Trump said Putin was “ready to make a deal.” When asked what the holdup was, Trump simply said, “Zelensky.”
“We have to get President Zelenskiy to agree to this,” he said.
Republicans ‘should be loyal’
President Trump fired Senate Republicans who had vowed to block Powell’s nomination for the Fed, citing concerns that his administration’s Justice Department was interfering with the central bank’s traditional independence with its investigation into Powell.
“I don’t care. I have nothing to say. They should be loyal,” he said of his own party’s members.
Mr. Trump also rejected criticism from JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon that Mr. Trump’s Fed intervention could accelerate inflation. “I don’t care what he says,” Trump said.
President Trump is scheduled to meet with Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Colina Machado at the White House on Thursday, January 15th, their first face-to-face meeting since he ordered the arrest of President Nicolás Maduro and assumed power earlier this month.
Nobel Institute says Machado’s Peace Prize cannot be ‘transferred’ to Trump
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Colina Machado will not be able to hand over the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize to President Donald Trump.
“She’s a very nice woman,” President Trump said of Machado. “I’ve seen her on TV. I’ll just tell you the basics.”
Machado won the Nobel Peace Prize last year and dedicated it to Trump. She offered to hand over her prize to him, but the Nobel Committee said the Peace Prize was not transferable.
He praised Venezuela’s acting president Delcy Rodriguez, who was vice president when Maduro was ousted. President Trump said he had an “interesting conversation” with Rodriguez earlier Wednesday and that “she responded very well.”
(Reporting by Steve Holland; Editing by Colleen Jenkins, Ross Colvin and Diane Craft)
