In a brief post on social media, he wrote: "We are
locked and loaded and ready to go." He gave no further details.
A senior adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei responded by saying Trump should "be careful" if he
intervened, warning of potential chaos across the Middle East.
At least six people are reported to have been killed in Iran
on Thursday after almost a week of mass protests sparked by worsening economic
conditions.
In Friday's post on Truth Social, Trump wrote: "If Iran
shots [sic] and violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the
United States of America will come to their rescue."
Ali Larijani, secretary of the Supreme National Security
Council, condemned Trump’s remarks, saying he “should know that American
interference in this internal issue is equivalent to chaos across the entire
region and the destruction of American interests”.
“We consider the positions of the protesting merchants
separate from those of the destructive elements,” Larijani added in a post on
X.
“The people of the US should know that Trump began the
adventurism. They should take care of their own soldiers.”
Larijani’s remarks likely referenced the US’s wide military
footprint in the region. In June, Iran attacked Al Udeid airbase in Qatar after
the US strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites during Israel’s 12-day war with
Iran.
In his post, the US president did not specify what action
Washington could take against the Iranian authorities.
Iranian officials earlier said a member of the country's
securities forces had been killed on Wednesday in the western city of
Kouhdasht.
Footage posted on social media showed cars set on fire
during running battles between protesters and security forces.
The protests began on Sunday in Tehran among shopkeepers
angered by another sharp fall in the value of the Iranian currency, the rial,
against the US dollar on the open market.
President Masoud Pezeshkian has said he will listen to the
"legitimate demands" of the protesters.
The protests have been the most widespread since an uprising
in 2022 sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a young woman accused
by morality police of not wearing her veil properly.
