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US President Donald Trump has issued a stark warning to Iran, vowing that the United States will intervene if Iranian authorities kill protesters. Trump's declaration, posted on social media, stated that the US is "locked and loaded," although he stopped short of specifying how Washington might respond. This comes amid reports of at least eight deaths following mass protests in Iran, ignited by economic grievances.

A sharp decline in the value of the Iranian rial relative to the US dollar prompted shopkeepers in Tehran to start protesting. These demonstrations swiftly spread to other cities, involving university students and prompting broader demands against Iran's clerical leadership. Protesters have called for the end of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's rule, with some seeking a return to monarchical governance, making these the most extensive protests since 2022.

Iranian authorities, however, issued their warnings. Ali Larijani, an adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader, cautioned that US interference could plunge the Middle East into chaos and harm American interests. Despite this, some Iranian protesters view potential US intervention positively, believing it could deter security forces from acting violently.

Earlier this year, the US conducted strikes on Iran's nuclear sites under Trump's orders. While US officials claimed these strikes hampered Iran's nuclear ambitions, the Iranian government refuted such assertions. In retaliation, Iran targeted a US military base in Qatar, escalating tensions in the region.

Looking ahead, Iran's political response remains mixed. President Masoud Pezeshkian indicated a willingness to listen to protesters' "legitimate demands." Conversely, Prosecutor-General Mohammad Movahedi-Azad promised harsh responses to any attempts at destabilisation, maintaining pressure on the protest movement, reported the BBC.

Key Takeaways:

• Trump warns the US will intervene if Iranian protests turn deadly.

• Tensions rise following previous US strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities.

• Protests fuel widespread demands for political change in Iran.

Related Story:

Iran Shaken by Deadly Protests Over Economy and Leadership

  

Adapted by ASEAN Now from BBC 2026-01-03

 

 

1 hour ago, webfact said:

Trump's declaration, posted on social media, stated that the US is "locked and loaded,"

There he goes again (as Ronnie Reagan would say), looking to earn yet another peace prize.

This appears to be a MASSIVELY STUPID and reckless move.

Why?

It gives Iran and Russia the justification to mass murder their own civilians labeling them American agents.

13 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

This appears to be a MASSIVELY STUPID and reckless move.

Why?

It gives Iran and Russia the justification to mass murder their own civilians labeling them American agents.

Well, it is also pure coincidence that Trump jut met Bib at Mar A Lago. Maybe the Israel's intel is very active inside Iran. God's chosen people would never do anything like that.

54 minutes ago, GoodieAfterDark said:

Well, it is also pure coincidence that Trump jut met Bib at Mar A Lago. Maybe the Israel's intel is very active inside Iran. God's chosen people would never do anything like that.

Conspiracy theory garbage.

1 hour ago, Jingthing said:

Conspiracy theory garbage.

Probably partially. I do agree though, that trump's warning to Iran stems from the meeting with nethanyahu.

Trump is itching to get in there to change that regime. Can’t blame him really.

30 minutes ago, daveAustin said:

Trump is itching to get in there to change that regime. Can’t blame him really.

Change it into what?

A neutered pussycat like Egypt that poses no threat to Israel?

1 hour ago, stevenl said:

Probably partially. I do agree though, that trump's warning to Iran stems from the meeting with nethanyahu.

It is a combination of dollar, oil and Isreal as correctly pointed out by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.). It’s certainty not about defending democracy and Iranian citizens.

Another of his empty boast as his Maga base is not with his adventurism and not America first. He also need congressional approval to go to war with Iran and he wouldn’t get it. He is just blowing hot air and distraction from his failures as he consistently do

2 hours ago, Jingthing said:

Conspiracy theory garbage.

Not too lonnng ago, Durak Kasim, Arafat's driver and personal bodyguard and member of Force 17 was recruited as a Mossad agent when he was studying philosophy in England.

There is a nice population of Jews in Iran. They are free to come and go as they please. They all belong to the same lodges. Sometimes Bibi call his buddy at Iran Parliament and ask him to burn some American and Israeli flag on national tv and say "Death to America! Death to Israel!".

The US President Of Peace is threatening to militarily intervene on multiple fronts: Iran, Venezuela, Ukraine (Russia), Nigeria, Taiwan, Columbia, Afghanistan, Greenland - Canada.
I think the President of Peace is actually one of the worse war-mongers since the rise of Hitler, and unlike Hitler, Herr Trump doesn't have the industrial capacity to carry out a war for more then a few weeks. Trumps mouth is writing checks that his position as president will end up as NSF.

2 hours ago, Jingthing said:

Conspiracy theory garbage.

Remember - Everything that Jingthing doesn't agree with is "Conspiracy Theory." Personally, I believe that Jingthing's "Conspiracy Theories" are Conspiracy Theories.

How altruistic, the leader of the free world, intervening to protect Iranian protesters angry at their leader and over affordability.

Yet at home, he suggests putting troops on American streets and maybe shooting his own protestors 'in the legs’ for the very same thing.

56 minutes ago, DeaconJohn said:

A neutered pussycat like Egypt that poses no threat to Israel?

So, should Egypt be a threat to Israel then?

4 hours ago, Jingthing said:

This appears to be a MASSIVELY STUPID and reckless move.

Why?

It gives Iran and Russia the justification to mass murder their own civilians labeling them American agents.

As the US openly murders people on the high seas. And if you haven't noticed, cops in the US have a license to kill. Twitch the wrong way and US cops will fill you full of holes and the justice system will just shake its head up and down and say, "Good Kill!" And then the US Military Industrial Complex supplies the world with the weapons needed to commit genocides, pogroms, and to overthrow countries that the US doesn't like.

Yeah - Russia and Iran bad. US is the shining city on the hill which does no wrong. <laughs>

5 hours ago, daveAustin said:

Trump is itching to get in there to change that regime. Can’t blame him really.

I thought the days of America being the world's policeman were over. Maybe he just wants to start another war to deflect from his multitude of domestic troubles but congress will want to be asked this time and they wont be too keen to follow a lame duck.

Military attacks on Venezuela, Nigeria and threatened "locked and loaded" threat to Iran. Quick, give him his "peace prize" before he kills more ...

2028 just can't come soon enough, can it?

6 hours ago, DeaconJohn said:

Change it into what?

A neutered pussycat like Egypt that poses no threat to Israel?

No, into an ungovernable, fragmented, post-apocalyptic hellscape like Libya, transit point for refugees that will dog Europe for decades to come, and marketplace for human trafficking and slavery.

14 minutes ago, Cat Boy said:

No, into an ungovernable, fragmented, post-apocalyptic hellscape like Libya, transit point for refugees that will dog Europe for decades to come, and marketplace for human trafficking and slavery.

Spot on.

My anology between a pussy-like Egypt and what might become of Iran was much too optimistic.

Your take is more plausible.

Just look at the disasters inflicted on other countries in the region by the US/Israeli juggernaut.

7 hours ago, daveAustin said:

Trump is itching to get in there to change that regime. Can’t blame him really.

He's itching all right, but changing the regime is not really high on his agenda. Just ask yourself: what is that both Venezuela and Iran have a lot of, and is worth staggering amounts of money? And what is Trump most fond of, besides himself?

On Friday, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) continued her attacks on President Donald Trump's departure from his "America First" policies.

In a Truth Social post Friday morning, Trump promised that the United States would send troops into "rescue" Iranian protesters who have been angry over economic hardships in their country.

Greene on Friday reposted a video of cybersecurity billionaire Shlomo Kramer who told CNBC, "it's time to limit the First Amendment."

"An Israeli cybersecurity billionaire demanding to take away Americans guaranteed First Amendment Free Speech and President Trump threatening war and sending in troops to Iran is everything we voted against in ‘24," Greene wrote on X.

"Trump voters spent the week threatening a tax revolt because they are so furious about the never ending waste, fraud, and abuse of their hard earned money going to foreigners and foreign wars," she added. "The focus should be on tax dollars here at home and defending our God given freedoms and rights."

MAGA rep calls out Trump: 'Everything we voted against'

Martyrdom is a big part of the sect in Iran, all this sabre-rattling and bravado about not fearing death because God's glory awaits the martyr, etc. The problem is, to paraphrase Peter Tosh: "everybody wants to be a martyr, but no nobody wants to die."

Look up their holiday Ashura, pretty bizarre rituals.

19 hours ago, DeaconJohn said:

Spot on.

My anology between a pussy-like Egypt and what might become of Iran was much too optimistic.

Your take is more plausible.

Just look at the disasters inflicted on other countries in the region by the US/Israeli juggernaut.

Quote:

A French Jew, (he recently told the European Jewish Congress the world's Jewish population needs to rise to 200 million),  Attali is a high-level technocrat working to fulfil the New World Order.

Jacques Attali, 79, has a varied CV.  For ten years he worked as an adviser to former French President Francois Mitterrand. In 1980, he started the European program Eureka (a major European program on new technologies that invented, among other things, the MP3).

In 1991, he co-founded the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.  He is also at the origin of the higher education reform, known as LMD, designed to bring all European degrees into line.

He has published over 50 books, selling over 6 million copies worldwide. They include an adoring biography of banker Siegmund Warburg.

He has also written a glowing account of Karl Marx, arguing that Marx was a free-marketeer who favored capitalism as a stepping-stone to his Communist ideal and predicted globalization as we know it today (i.e. the New World Order).

A Brief History of The Future by Jacques Attali (2006) outlines the elite's agenda for the 21st Century.

IMMIGRATION

Immigration flows will expand and submerge nation-states. 'Great Britain will become a major host country, especially for citizens of Central European countries. The latter will in their turn welcome Ukrainian workers, themselves replaced by Russians, themselves replaced by vast Chinese populations.'

Resistant countries will learn that a population inflow 'is the condition of their survival.' In a sinister passage, Attali speaks of third-world hordes engulfing the West.

'Ever more numerous masses will hurl themselves at the gates of the West. They already number hundreds of thousands every month; that figure will increase to millions, then tens of millions.'

The United States will be the most popular destination and 'In twenty years, the Hispanic and African-American populations will almost constitute a majority in the United States.'

Nomadism will also become the norm in the West, 'as more and more people will leave one country for another: there will soon be more than ten million of them switching countries every year.

Our main incentive will be money, but many will leave because they are disgusted by their homeland.

'They [will] no longer want to depend on a country whose tax system, legislation, and even culture they reject. And also to disappear completely, to live another life. The world will thus be increasingly filled with people who have become anonymous of their own free will; it will be like a carnival where everyone - ultimate freedom! - will have chosen a new identity for himself.'

2 hours ago, bendejo said:

Martyrdom is a big part of the sect in Iran, all this sabre-rattling and bravado about not fearing death because God's glory awaits the martyr, etc. The problem is, to paraphrase Peter Tosh: "everybody wants to be a martyr, but no nobody wants to die."

Look up their holiday Ashura, pretty bizarre rituals.

Tosh: who he?

55 minutes ago, GoodieAfterDark said:

The United States will be the most popular destination and 'In twenty years, the Hispanic and African-American populations will almost constitute a majority in the United States.

The writer nailed it.

7 hours ago, Effective altruism said:

The writer nailed it.

He should know it. They are behind everything that is happening since the so called "pandemic" that destroyed the world economy.

Quote:

THE FUTURE OF THE US

The dollar will remain dominant until at least 2025 when foreign backers will start abandoning it and 'the credit pyramid, based on the value of American housing, will collapse.'

The US will then start disintegrating, with violence and chaos ensuing. Attali states, 'It will not be tomorrow's Africa that will one day resemble today's West, but the whole West that could tomorrow evoke today's Africa.'

The US will then have to redesign its government to regain control.

'The United States could then become a Scandinavian-style social democracy or a dictatorship - and even perhaps the one after the other. It would not be the first time such a surprise occurred: the first leader to apply the principles required to emerge from the crisis of the [last depression] was Mussolini; the second was Hitler. Roosevelt only came third.'

As chaos and violence engulf the world, Christianity and Islam will strengthen. The Bible Belt region in the Southern US will mobilize and could dominate US politics.

'The United States could then around 2040 fall prey to a theocratic temptation, explicit or implicit, in the shape of theocratic isolationism in which democracy would be no more than a shadowy presence.'

This Christian movement could be used in a war against a mobilized Islam, which would presumably weaken and discredit both religions. 

An international Christian alliance 'could well form alliances here and there with secular pirates and traffickers in arms, women and drugs.'

This alliance will 'stand face to face against Islam  - and the struggle will be relentless. They will defend Christians in countries where they are a minority, as in Lebanon, Iraq and Syria.'

Before the end of the century the US will be disintegrated and under the authority of a collectivist world government.

A post with a blind link to an off topic YouTube video from an unapproved social media source has been removed. @GoodieAfterDark