Iran protests prompt new Trump warning over deadly government crackdowns

President Donald Trump vowed Sunday evening that nan Islamic Republic of Iran will "get deed very hard," if Tehran repeats nan sidesplitting of protesters, arsenic it has during erstwhile citizen-led revolts against nan regime.

When asked astir his first comments connected protecting Iranian demonstrators during a property gaggle connected committee Air Force One, Trump said that "We're watching it very closely. If they commencement sidesplitting group for illustration they person successful nan past, I deliberation they're going to get deed very difficult by nan United States."

Anti-regime protests person engulfed Iran for nan past 9 days amid Trump’s 2nd threat to intervene connected nan broadside of nan demonstrators successful Iran.

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President Donald Trump speaks pinch reporters while successful formation connected Air Force One, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, arsenic returning to Joint Base Andrews, Md. (Alex Brandon/AP Photo)

According to nan U.S.-based Human Rights Activists successful Iran (HRAI), nan strength of nan protests has reached astatine least 78 cities and 222 locations, pinch protesters demanding nan extremity of nan authorities controlled by nan 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

The group said nan authorities has killed astatine slightest 20 people, including 3 children, and arrested 990 people. Khamenei’s information forces person detained much than 40 children, HRAI noted.

Iran expert, Shukriya Bradost, who is CEO of Four Sides Security Solutions, told Fox News Digital that "Trump’s informing to nan Iranian authorities emboldened protesters because it came from a president who had already demonstrated a willingness to face Tehran directly, astir notably by ordering nan sidesplitting of Qassem Soleimani. For Iranians who felt abandoned during nan 2009 Green Movement nether nan Obama administration, and later disappointed by nan Biden administration’s softer attack toward nan regime, Trump’s words were seen arsenic reliable and empowering."

A U.S. subject drone onslaught killed nan erstwhile Iranian general, Soleimani, successful Iraq connected Jan. 3, 2020. 

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Protesters march successful downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025.  (Fars News Agency via AP)

Bradost added, "Today, galore Iranians want Trump to support that aforesaid clarity: to broadside openly pinch nan Iranian people, not nan regime, and to make clear that repression will not beryllium ignored aliases normalized.

The Islamic Republic is nary longer a functional system. The cardinal mobility now is whether U.S. argumentation reinforces nan Iranian people’s request for genuine change, aliases unintentionally helps parts of a collapsing authorities survive."

Iranian protesters asked during nan 2009 protests, "Obama: Are you pinch america aliases against us?" Obama sided pinch nan Islamic Republic astatine nan time. He said successful 2022 that he regretted his confederation pinch Khamenei’s authorities during nan Green Movement.

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Trump’s pro-protest connection has breathed further occurrence and life into demonstrations, according to adjacent followers of nan upheaval blanketing Iran.

Mardo Soghom, a seasoned Iran master who has written extensively astir nan nation, told Fox News Digital that "There is small uncertainty that President Trump's informing to Iran's Islamic rulers will embolden Iranians, but nan truth is that they began their caller protests earlier Trump made those comments. Most of nan Iranians opposed to nan regime, particularly those wrong nan state protesting successful nan streets, are asking for Israeli aliases U.S. assistance successful benignant of disarming nan authorities and neutralizing its forces of repression."

He added, "The existent information of protests successful Iran is different from erstwhile rounds. People are not asking for reforms, but unanimously and categorically they are aiming for authorities change. The protests are besides much forceful. This clip around, nan group are little acrophobic of nan notorious information forces and look much determined."

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Tehran's options person been constricted by Trump's threats and a long-running economical crisis that deepened aft Israel, joined by nan U.S., launched strikes connected nan Islamic Republic in June successful a 12-day warfare that pummelled respective of Iran's atomic sites.

"These copy pressures person narrowed Tehran's room for maneuver, leaving leaders caught betwixt nationalist anger connected nan streets and hardening demands and threats from Washington, pinch fewer viable options and precocious risks connected each path," 1 Iranian charismatic told Reuters.

Protesters clasp signs during a objection successful Iran amid ongoing unrest, according to images released by nan Iranian guidance group National Council of Resistance of Iran. (NCRI )

The Iranian-American campaigner to topple nan Islamic Republic, Masih Alinejad, told Fox News that "Trump’s "strong connection gave dream to nan group of Iran." She said aft Trump’s first connection of protection to nan protesters, ample numbers of Iranians poured into nan streets. She stressed this is nan first clip successful history that a U.S. President "is opinionated powerfully pinch nan group of Iran and not sending appeasement connection to nan killers."

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Alinejad urged Trump to evict Iran’s typical astatine nan U.N. and wants nan White House to person Elon Musk to supply Starlink work for net communications. She called connected President Trump to motorboat U.S. targeted subject actions against those who ordered massacres successful Iran and killed guiltless people.