Trump And Top Iranian Officials Exchange Threats Over Protests Roiling Iran

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump and top Iranian officials threatened each other with a duel on Friday. expanding protests It ravaged parts of the Islamic Republic, further increasing tensions between the countries. America bombed Iran’s nuclear facilities in June.

At least seven people were killed There has been violence so far around the demonstrations, which have been sparked in part by the collapse of the Iranian rial currency but have seen increasingly crowds chanting anti-government slogans.

The protests, which have entered their sixth day, have turned into the largest protests in Iran since 2022. Mahsa Amini, 22 years old The police detention triggered demonstrations across the country. But the demonstrations are not yet as widespread and intense as those surrounding the death of Amini, who was detained for not wearing a headscarf or headscarf to the authorities’ liking.

Trump initially warned Iran on the Truth Social platform that if it “violently kills peaceful protesters” the US would “come to their rescue.”

“We’re locked, loaded and ready to go,” Trump wrote, without going into much detail.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on social media platform

Former parliament speaker Ali Larijani, who served as the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, claimed that Israel and the USA were fueling the demonstrations. He offered no evidence to support the claim, which Iranian officials have made repeatedly during protests that have gripped the country for years.

Larijani wrote about X, which the Iranian government blocked: “Trump must know that US intervention in the internal problem corresponds to chaos in the entire region and the destruction of US interests.” “The American people should know that Trump started adventurism. They should protect their own soldiers.”

Larijani’s remarks were likely referring to America’s large military footprint in the region. Iran attacked Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar in June After the United States struck three nuclear sites during Israel’s 12-day war against the Islamic Republic. No one was injured, but the missile hit a structure there.

A U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military plans, said that as of Friday, no major changes had been made to U.S. troop levels or readiness in the Middle East following Trump’s social media posts.

In a letter to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the UN Security Council late Friday, Iran’s envoy asked the world body to condemn the rhetoric and reaffirm the country’s “inherent right to defend its sovereignty, territorial integrity and national security and to protect its people against any foreign interference.”

“The United States bears full responsibility for any consequences that may arise from these illegal threats and the resulting escalation of tensions,” Iran’s UN Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani said.

Ali Shamkhani, advisor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who served as the council’s secretary for years, also warned that “any interventionist hand that comes too close to Iran’s security will be cut off.”

Trump’s online message was a direct sign of support for the demonstrators; Other American presidents have avoided it out of concern that activists would be accused of working with the West. During Iran’s 2009 Green Movement demonstrationsPresident Barack Obama has refrained from publicly supporting the protests; He said in 2022 that “it was a mistake.”

But such support from the White House still carries risks.

“While the grievances that fueled these and past protests stem from the Iranian government’s own policies, they will likely use President Trump’s statement as evidence that the unrest is being driven by external actors,” said Naysan Rafati, an analyst at the International Crisis Group.

“But using this as a justification for more violent repression risks inviting the US intervention that Trump has hinted at,” he added.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei recently cited a list of Tehran’s long-standing complaints about US intervention. CIA-backed coup in 1953 crash of passenger plane The strikes in 1988 and the strikes in June.

Video spread on social media late Friday showed protests continuing in several cities across the country, including at least three spots south and east of the capital Tehran. The Associated Press cannot independently verify the footage.

Demonstrators took to the streets of Zahedan in Iran’s restive Sistan and Baluchistan province, on the border with Pakistan. The funerals of many demonstrators killed during the protests also sparked marches.

The videos allegedly show mourners chasing members of the security forces attending the funeral of 21-year-old Amirhessam Khodayari. He was killed on Wednesday in Kuhdasht, 400 kilometers (250 miles) southwest of Tehran in Iran’s Lorestan province.

The footage also shows Khodayari’s father denying that his son ever served in the volunteer Basij force of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, as authorities claimed. The semi-official Fars news agency later reported that there were questions about the government’s claims of service.

Iran’s civilian government, led by reformist President Massoud Pezeshkian, is trying to signal that it is willing to negotiate with protesters. However, Pezeshkian acknowledged that there was not much he could do because the Iranian rial was losing value rapidly and 1 dollar now costs about 1.4 million rials. This sparked the first protests.

In the protests rooted in economic problems, demonstrators were also heard chanting slogans against the Iranian theocracy. Tehran has had little chance of supporting its economy in the months since the June war.

Iran recently said this no longer enriches uranium Elsewhere in the country, he is trying to signal to the West that he is open to potential talks on the atomic program aimed at sanctions relief. However, these talks have not yet taken place, as Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have done. Warns Tehran not to rebuild atomic program.

Associated Press writers Konstantin Toropin in Washington and Farnush Amiri in New York contributed to this report.