By Mostafa Salem

(CNN) — Iran’s leadership lashed out Friday after US President Donald Trump threatened intervention amid deadly protests, with Iranian officials warning that American troops in the region could be targeted if Washington interferes.

“If Iran shots (sic) 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! President DONALD J.TRUMP,” he wrote on Truth Social on Friday.

Dozens of protesters took to the streets across several of Iran’s provinces this week, with some demonstrations turning deadly Wednesday after clashes with police.

Iranian officials issued stern warnings against US intervention in the country’s internal affairs. Ali Larijani, Iran’s national security chief, said on X that American interference would trigger “disruption across the entire region and the destruction of American interests.”

Ali Shamkhani, a close adviser to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, declared Iran’s national security a “red line.”

“Every hand of intervention that approaches Iranian security…will be cut off with a regrettable response,” he said on X.

The most direct threat came from Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, speaker of Iran’s parliament, who warned that Iran would target US forces in the Middle East should Washington intervene.

“The disrespectful President of America should also know that with this official statement, all American centers and forces across the entire region will be legitimate targets for us in response to any potential actions,” Ghalibaf said.

Trump’s threats against Iran create a “stark strategic dilemma” for Washington, Ali Vaez, the director of the Iran Project at the International Crisis Group, said.

“If the US fails to follow through, it risks emboldening the regime and discouraging future dissent, yet meaningful intervention could escalate into a broader conflict with unpredictable consequences for both the United States and the Iranian people.”

Protesters storm police station

At least three people were killed and 17 others injured on Thursday evening when protesters stormed a police station in the city of Azna in Iran’s western Lorestan province, the state-affiliated Fars News Agency said.

The protesters clashed with police, threw stones at law enforcement personnel and set cars on fire, Fars claimed. The news agency said some armed “rioters took advantage” of a protest in the city. Without providing evidence, Fars said police later confiscated firearms from some individuals.

On Thursday morning, at least two people were killed when dozens of protesters clashed with the police in Lordegan county of the southwest Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province, Fars said. It remains unclear if the casualties were among law enforcement authorities or protesters. Unverified videos circulating on social media showed protesters throwing stones at police in the province. Fars reported that protesters threw stones at the governor’s office, banks, and other governmental buildings.

The first known death linked to the protests occurred on Wednesday night, when one member of Iran’s Basij paramilitary force was killed, and 13 others injured in the city of Kuhdasht in Lorestan province, per state-affiliated media. Fars News Agency showed a video of a member of the police force receiving treatment after allegedly being set on fire by protesters.

The Basij is often deployed by the regime to suppress protests.

Twenty people were arrested in the protests, the prosecutor of Kuhdasht said Thursday, according to state-affiliated news agency Tasnim.

In Tehran province’s Malard county, authorities arrested 30 people for “disrupting public disorder,” according to Fars. The agency cited a county official Mansour Saleki, who said those arrested were “abusing the legal right of citizens to protest”

Shopkeepers, bazaar merchants, and students took to the streets in several Iranian cities this week, chanting anti-regime slogans over economic conditions after the currency hit record lows.

The protests were the largest since a 2022 nationwide uprising sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody after she was arrested for allegedly wearing her headscarf improperly.

The US State Department said in a post on X Wednesday that it was concerned about reports that protesters were facing “intimidation, violence, and arrests” and called on the authorities to end the crackdown.

“First the bazaars. Then the students. Now the whole country. Iranians are united. Different lives, one demand: respect our voices and our rights,” the State Department said in a post on its Farsi account on X.

Despite being so far limited, the protests mark the latest chapter in the growing discontent in Iran, as a population quietly reclaims public spaces and personal freedoms through uncoordinated acts of defiance.

The-CNN-Wire
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