President Donald Trump issued a threat to Iran on TruthSocial Friday morning, saying the United States is “locked and loaded and ready to go.”
Trump wrote in a TruthSocial post that if Iran “kills peaceful protestors,” the United States will intervene and “come to their rescue.” Protests recently began in Iran as the country faces economic hardship. According to The Hill, the weekend protests were the largest in the country since 2022. (RELATED: Trump Suggests He’ll Strike Iran Again If Military Buildup Continues)
“If Iran shots and violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue. We are locked and loaded and ready to go. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Trump wrote in the TruthSocial post before signing off.
Following the protests, seven deaths were reported by a human rights organization and three were reported by a semiofficial news agency. During the protests on Sunday in Tehran, the crowds were chanting about economic hardships, NBC News reported. Sanctions and the country’s June 2025 war with Israel worsened conditions in Iran.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Khamenei adviser Ali Shamkhani responded to Trump’s threat, according to NBC News.
“Any hand of intervention that comes close to Iran’s security under any pretext will be cut off before it can act,” Shamkhani said.
فریاد شیطان بلند شد چرا که تلاش عوامل میدانی مسلح سرویسهای جاسوسی برای تبدیل اعتراضات بحق بازاریان و اصناف و تبدیل آن به نبردهای شهری خشن و مسلح با آگاهی تاریخی ملت ایران با شکست روبرو شد.
ملت ایران در طول تاریخ دشمنانی به مراتب کارکشتهتر از اینها را نا امید کردهاند؛ هرگز صف…— محمدباقر قالیباف (@mb_ghalibaf) January 2, 2026
“Moreover, the disrespectful President of America should also know that with this official admission, all American centers and forces across the entire region will be legitimate targets for us in response to any potential adventurism; Iranians have always been united and determined to act in the face of an aggressor enemy,” Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf wrote in an X post.