Trump Urges Iranians to Keep Up Protests Amid Crackdown
In an interview with CBS News, Donald Trump said his “end game is to win” and defined success by pointing to prior military interventions.
President Donald Trump urged Iranians to continue protests against the government of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He warned he would “act accordingly” once he gets a sense for how many of the demonstrators have been killed.
“To all Iranian patriots — keep protesting, take over your institutions if possible,” Trump said in a speech in Detroit, adding that activists should “save the name of the killers and the abusers” suppressing the protests “because they’ll pay a very big price.”
In later comments before boarding Air Force One, Trump suggested his next move would hinge on a meeting of the National Security Council that was set to take place later Tuesday. Vice President JD Vance was to chair the meeting, according to a senior US official. Trump declined to say what he had in mind.
“We’ll get some accurate numbers as to what’s happening with regard to the killing,” Trump said. “I’ll know within 20 minutes and we’ll act accordingly.”
That raised the prospect of further military strikes on the country days after a White House official said Trump had been briefed on options for an attack, including on non-military sites. The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency reported that at least 2,000 people have died in the Iranian upheaval, making it the deadliest wave of protests in the Islamic Republic in decades and the most severe threat yet to Khamenei’s rule.
The Oslo-based Iran Human Rights group earlier warned the "risk of mass and extrajudicial executions of protesters is extremely serious."
The region has been on high alert for another possible US intervention. Less than two weeks ago, American special forces stormed into Caracas and captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. And seven months ago, Trump ordered strikes as part of an effort to take out Iran’s nuclear program. He’s also approved attacks in Somalia, Yemen, Syria, Nigeria and in the Caribbean Sea.
The president, speaking later Tuesday in an interview with CBS News, said his “end game is to win” and defined success by pointing to prior military interventions.
“Let’s define it in Venezuela. Let’s define it with [killed Islamic State leader Abu Bakr] al-Baghdadi. He was wiped out. Let’s define it with [killed Iranian military officer Qasem] Soleimani, and let’s define it in Iran, where we wiped out their Iran nuclear threat in a period of about 15 minutes,” Trump said.
Trump’s remarks echoed a social media post he wrote earlier in the day encouraging the demonstrations, and his announcement Monday that the US would impose a 25% tariff on any country that does business with Iran. Trump didn’t say what else the US might do in response, after he told reporters earlier that his administration was looking at “some very strong options.”
The president said Tuesday he had “canceled all meetings with the Iranian officials until the senseless killing of protesters stops.” Trump had told reporters on Sunday the Iranian leadership reached out to seek talks and that a meeting was being set up, without offering details on timing.
"I say, make Iran great again,” he said in Detroit. "You know, it was a great country until these monsters came in and took it over. And it’s all very fragile."
Elon Musk’s SpaceX has also begun offering free Starlink satellite service in Iran amid an internet blackout imposed by the country’s leadership, following similar actions after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the recent US military operation in Venezuela.
Iran has experienced weeks of mass unrest. While initially touched off by a currency crisis and worsening economic conditions, the protests have increasingly taken aim at the regime. It’s the biggest challenge to the Islamic Republic since the 1979 Iranian Revolution overthrew the shah.
In an interview on Fox News last week, Trump said the US would hit Iran “very hard” if the country continued to shoot at protesters. He has been briefed on a range of options for military strikes in Iran, including nonmilitary sites, a White House official said over the weekend.
