WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Friday (local time) that Washington is closely watching the situation in Iran and hopes protesters there remain safe.
Speaking at the White House, Trump issued a sharp warning. If Iranian authorities begin killing protesters, he said, the United States would step in and strike “where it hurts”.
The comments came during a meeting with senior oil and gas executives.
Trump said unrest in Iran had reached places few expected.
“Iran’s in big trouble,” he told reporters. “It looks to me that the people are taking over certain cities that nobody thought were really possible.”
He added that the US had made its position clear. “I made the statement very strongly that if they start killing people like they have in the past, we will get involved. We will be hitting them very hard where it hurts,” Trump said, stressing that this would not mean “boots on the ground”.
“…but it means hitting them very hard where it hurts so we don’t want that to happen.”
Trump described the protests as extraordinary. He blamed Iranian leaders for years of mistreatment of their citizens and said the current unrest was a consequence of that record.
“This is something pretty incredible that is happening in Iran,” he said. “It’s an amazing thing to watch.”
On the safety of demonstrators, Trump struck a cautionary note.
“I just hope the protestors in Iran are going to be safe because it is a very dangerous place right now,” he said, warning Iranian leaders not to open fire. “You better not start shooting because we’ll start shooting too.”
A report by the policy research organisation Institute for the Study of War said protest activity in Iran has expanded sharply since January 7.
According to the think tank, demonstrations have increased in both scale and frequency, including in Tehran and parts of northwestern Iran. It said authorities have responded with a tougher crackdown, including the rare deployment of Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps ground forces in at least one province.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei has rejected the protests as domestic in nature and accused Washington of orchestrating them.
Speaking at a public event on January 9, Khamenei claimed that some protesters were acting to please the American president.
“There are also those whose work is destruction,” he said, referring to damage to property during demonstrations. He accused vandals of harming their own country “just to please the President of America”.
Khamenei also attacked Trump personally, calling him arrogant and comparing him to historical despots.
“As for that fellow (Trump) who sits there with arrogance and pride, passing judgment on the whole world, he should also know that usually, the despots and arrogant powers of the world–such as Pharaoh, Nimrod, Reza Khan, Mohammad Reza, and the likes of them–were overthrown exactly when they were at the peak of their pride. This one will be overthrown as well.”
Agencies