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Trump, Iran Exchange Threats 01/02 06:11
U.S. President Donald Trump and top Iranian officials exchanged dueling
threats Friday as widening economic protests swept across parts of the Islamic
Republic, further escalating tensions between the countries after America
bombed Iranian nuclear sites in June.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- U.S. President Donald Trump and top
Iranian officials exchanged dueling threats Friday as widening economic
protests swept across parts of the Islamic Republic, further escalating
tensions between the countries after America bombed Iranian nuclear sites in
June.
Trump initially wrote on his Truth Social platform, warning Iran that if it
"violently kills peaceful protesters," the United States "will come to their
rescue." At least seven people have been killed so far in violence surrounding
the demonstrations, sparked in part by the collapse of Iran's rial currency.
"We are locked and loaded and ready to go," Trump wrote, without elaborating.
Shortly after, Ali Larijani, a former parliament speaker who serves as the
secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, alleged on the social
platform X that Israel and the U.S. were stoking the demonstrations. He offered
no evidence to support the allegation, which Iranian officials have repeatedly
made during years of protests sweeping the country.
"Trump should know that intervention by the U.S. in the domestic problem
corresponds to chaos in the entire region and the destruction of the U.S.
interests," Larijani wrote on X, which the Iranian government blocks. "The
people of the U.S. should know that Trump began the adventurism. They should
take care of their own soldiers."
Larijani's remarks likely referenced America's wide military footprint in
the region. Iran in June attacked Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar after the U.S.
strikes on three nuclear sites during Israel's 12-day war on the Islamic
Republic.
Ali Shamkhani, an adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who
previously was the council's secretary for years, warned that "any
interventionist hand that gets too close to the security of Iran will be cut."
"The people of Iran properly know the experience of ?being rescued' by
Americans: from Iraq and Afghanistan to Gaza," he added on X.
The current protests, now in their sixth day, have become the biggest in
Iran since 2022, when the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody
triggered nationwide demonstrations. However, the demonstrations have yet to be
countrywide and have not been as intense as those surrounding the death of
Amini, who was detained over not wearing her hijab, or headscarf, to the liking
of authorities.
Iran's civilian government under reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian has
been trying to signal it wants to negotiate with protesters. However,
Pezeshkian has acknowledged there is not much he can do as Iran's rial has
rapidly depreciated, with $1 now costing some 1.4 million rials. That sparked
the initial protests.
The protests, taking root in economic issues, have heard demonstrators chant
against Iran's theocracy as well.
Months after the war, Iran said it was no longer enriching uranium at any
site in the country, trying to signal to the West that it remains open to
potential negotiations over its atomic program to ease sanctions. However,
those talks have yet to happen as Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu have warned Tehran against reconstituting its atomic program.
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