Trump threat to intervene over protests ‘reckless’, says Iran foreign minister

Iran’s foreign minister has described Donald Trump’s promise to intervene as “reckless and dangerous” after the US president warned Iranian authorities not to kill peaceful protesters, saying Washington would “come to their rescue”.

“We’re locked, loaded and ready to go,” Trump wrote in a brief post on social media, but did not provide further details.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote in his statement about X, “Given President Trump’s deployment of the National Guard within the borders of the United States, everyone should know that criminal attacks on public property cannot be tolerated.”

He added that Iran would “forcefully reject any interference in its internal affairs.”

Meanwhile, an Iranian police spokesman said officers would not allow what he called “enemies” to turn “unrest into chaos”.

As of Saturday morning, at least eight people were reported dead in a week of protests in Tehran.

Two people were killed in clashes between protesters and security forces in the southwestern city of Lordegan, according to the semi-official Fars news agency and human rights group Hengaw.

According to Fars, three people were killed in Azna, while one person died in Kouhdasht in the west of the country. It was not stated whether they were demonstrators or members of the security forces.

One death was reported in Fuladshahr in central Iran and another death was reported in Marvdasht in the south.

The BBC could not independently confirm the deaths.

Protests spread to many cities and towns, and clashes between security forces and demonstrators were reported to be ongoing.

Protests broke out in Tehran among shopkeepers angered by the sharp decline in the value of the Iranian currency against the US dollar on the open market.

On Tuesday, university students also got involved and spread to many cities; people chanted slogans against the country’s religious rulers.

The demonstrations have been the most widespread, but not on the same scale, since the 2022 uprising sparked by the custodial death of Mahsa Amini, a young woman accused by the morality police of not wearing her veil properly.

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

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

Reuters news agency reported that Iran’s UN Ambassador Amir-Saeid Iravani called on the Security Council to condemn Trump’s statements in a letter he sent to the UN secretary-general and the head of the Security Council on Friday.

“Iran will exercise its rights decisively and proportionately. The United States will assume full responsibility for any consequences arising from these unlawful threats and the resulting escalation of tension,” the letter said. he said.