Trump warns US will intervene if Iran kills protesters

US President Donald Trump warned Iranian authorities not to kill peaceful protesters and said Washington “will come to the rescue.”

“We are locked and loaded and ready to go,” he wrote in a brief post on social media, without giving further details.

A senior adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei responded by saying Trump should be “careful” if he intervened and warned of the potential for chaos across the Middle East.

At least six people were reported dead in Iran on Thursday after worsening economic conditions triggered nearly a week of massive protests.

“If Iran shoots (sic) and violently kills peaceful protesters (as is their wont), the United States of America will come to the rescue,” Trump wrote in a Friday Truth Society post.

Khamenei adviser Ali Larijani warned soon after that any U.S. intervention would destabilize the region.

“Trump should know that U.S. interference in this internal matter would mean destabilizing the entire region and undermining U.S. interests,” he wrote.

In his post, the US president did not specify what actions Washington could take against the Iranian authorities.

June, US launches attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities Following Trump’s orders.

U.S. officials later argued that the attack significantly hampered Tehran’s prospects of building a nuclear weapon – a claim that Iran disputes.

In retaliation, Iran launches missile attack on main US military base in Qatar.

Six people were reportedly killed as protests in Iran entered their fifth day on Thursday.

Clashes between protesters and security forces in the southwestern city of Lodgan left two people dead, the semi-official Fars news agency and human rights group Hengaw reported.

Three people were killed in Azna and another in Kudasht, both in the west of the country, Fars reported.

Fars did not specify whether those killed were demonstrators or members of the security forces.

Hengaw said the two people killed in Lodgan were protesters, Ahmed Jalil and Sajjad Varamanesh.

The BBC has not been able to independently verify the deaths.

Videos posted on social media showed cars being set on fire during fights between protesters and security forces.

BBC Persian has verified videos showing Thursday’s protests in Lodgan, Tehran and Marfdasht in the southern province of Fars.

Iranian officials earlier said a member of the country’s security forces was killed in the western city of Qudasht on Wednesday. Protesters said the man was one of their own and was shot dead by security forces, which has not been confirmed by the BBC.

Protests began on Sunday among shopkeepers in Tehran, angered by another sharp drop in Iran’s currency, the rial, against the dollar on the open market.

By Tuesday, university students were participating and it had spread to several cities, with people chanting against the country’s religious rulers.

Many protesters have since called for an end to Khamenei’s rule. Some say they want a return to the monarchy.

The protests were the most widespread since the 2022 uprising sparked by the death in custody of a young woman, Mahsa Amini, who was accused by morality police of not wearing the hijab properly, but not on the same scale.

President Masoud Pezeshkian said he would listen to the protesters’ “legitimate demands.”

But the country’s Attorney General, Mohamed Mowahdi-Azad, warned that any attempt to create instability would be met with a “decisive response.”