Iranian
officials warn Trump not to cross ‘red line’ over threats to intervene in
protests
US
president’s posts that US will come to the rescue of protesters prompt warnings
of ‘regret-inducing response’
William
Christou
Fri 2 Jan
2026 13.10 GMT
Donald
Trump has threatened to intervene in Iran if its government kills
demonstrators, prompting warnings from senior Iranian officials that any
American interference would cross a “red line”.
In a
social media post on Friday, Trump said that if Iran were to shoot and kill
protesters, the US would “come to their rescue”. He added “we are locked and
loaded, and ready to go”, without explaining what that might mean in practice.
Protests
in Iran are in their sixth day, and are the largest since 2022, when the death
in police custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini triggered demonstrations across
the country. The current unrest was triggered by an unprecedented decline in
the value of the national currency on Sunday. The Iranian rial dropping to
about 1.4m to the US dollar, further harming an already beleaguered economy.
Iran’s
foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, called Trump’s statement “reckless and
dangerous,” and said the country’s military was on standby. He also said the
protests had been mostly peaceful, but that attacks on public property would
not be tolerated.
“Given
President Trump’s deployment of the National Guard within US borders, he of all
people should know that criminal attacks on public property cannot be
tolerated,” he said.
At least
seven people have been killed, , and videos have shown security forces carrying
shotguns with the sound of shooting in the background.
In
response to Trump’s threat of intervention, Ali Shamkhani, adviser to the
supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khameini, warned that Iran’s national security
was a “red line, not material for adventurist tweets”.
“Any
intervening hand nearing Iran security on pretexts will be cut off with a
regret-inducing response,” Shamkhani said in a post on X.
The
threats come just days after Trump said that the US could strike Iran if it was
found to be rebuilding its nuclear programme, further escalating tensions
between the two countries.
Another
senior Iranian official, Ali Larijani, the secretary of Iran’s supreme national
security council, accused the US and Israel of having a hand in the
demonstrations in Iran, a common refrain by officials in response to protests.
“Trump
must realize that US intervention in this domestic matter will lead to
destabilisation of the whole region and the destruction of American interests,”
Larijani wrote on X. “The American people must know that Trump is the one that
started this adventure, and they should pay attention to the safety of their
soldiers.”
Iran has
threatened to target American soldiers stationed in the Middle East in the
past, and in June it attacked Al-Udeid airbase in Qatar after the US struck
Iranian nuclear enrichment sites.
The
current protests have taken place in Tehran but have also spread to other
cities, such as Isfahan in central Iran. Shopkeepers have closed their stores
in protest and students have taken over campuses to express their grievances.
Though economic conditions are the central grievance, demonstrators have also
chanted anti-government slogans and decried what they said was corruption and
mismanagement by the government.
Protests
continued on Friday, with marches taking place to commemorate the burial of
several demonstrators killed. Videos appeared to show mourners stopping
security forces from attending the funeral of 21-year-old Amirhessam Khodayari,
who was killed on Wednesday in Lorestan province.
Khodayari
was originally reported as a member of the Basij, a volunteer paramilitary
group, but his father denied the claims on video.
The
Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, initially invited protest leaders for
talks, taking a less confrontational approach than authorities did in the 2022
protests, which they violently suppressed. Pezeshkian said that he had
instructed the government to listen to the protesters “legitimate demands”.
The
recent deaths of demonstrators, however, could signal that authorities are
taking a harder line against protests as they continue. A statement from the
Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps on Monday warned that it would take a harsh
line against any foreign interference or “sedition” in the country.
As
Iranian authorities grapple with protests at home, it has tried to stave off
accusations from the US that it is reconstituting its nuclear programme. Iran
has said that it is no longer enriching uranium anywhere in the country and has
signaled it is open for negotiations with the west.
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