Iran has threatened to target all American bases after Donald Trump warned the US was "locked and loaded" to rescue protesters being killed by the regime.

16:50, Sat, Jan 3, 2026 Updated: 16:52, Sat, Jan 3, 2026

Iranâs Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei

Protests have swept Iran as Trump issues warning (Image: Getty)

The Islamic Republic of Iran has issued a shocking threat to the United States after President Trump warned the regime that the US was "locked and loaded" to step into the region. It comes after widespread protests across the Middle Eastern nation saw Mr Trump pledge to "rescue" anti-regime protestors if the Iranian government continued to kill them.

Mr Trump said the "United States of America will come to [the protestors] rescue" if Iranian forces kill demonstrators, adding that the US was "locked and loaded and ready to go". He made the warning on Friday, provoking a furious reaction from the Iranians. Protests have swept across the country, with large numbers of Iranians taking to the streets to object to rising cost-of-loving pressures that have seen food prices and inflation spiral. The protests are reportedly the largest the Islamic republic has faced in years, and several demonstrators have been killed, after the authorities attempted to crack down on the unrest.

The latest news from around the world Invalid email

We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you've consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. Read our Privacy Policy

Funerals for three protesters were held last week, where mourners were reported to have been chanting slogans opposing the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Some of the protesters had chanted "death to the dictators", in what now amounts to the largest nationwide protests since the death of a 22-year-old woman in custody who allegedly had been arrested for incorrectly wearing a hijab in 2022.

In that protest, which centered around women's rights, more than 300 people were killed when the government brutally cracked down on demonstrators. The latest round of protests has instead coalesced around a collapse in living standards and has spread from the capital of Tehran to towns across the country.

Riot police had been deployed, with tear gas fired into crowds of demonstrators. Two died in the south-western city of Lordegan as a result. But Mr Trump's intervention has been condemned by the Iranian Foreign Ministry, which said in a statement that the US was "escalating tensions" in the region and vowed that their nation's response, should Mr Trump follow through on his warning, would be "swift, decisive, and comprehensive".

Trump's warning that the US would step in if further protestors were killed comes just over six months after the United States bombed the nation's nuclear sites. In response to the protests, the United States State Department shared footage of the protests on social media, saying that the "courtage of the Iranian people is undeniable" and praised the demonstrators' "resolve in the face of repression".

State-aligned media in Iran has said that there have been at least 10 deaths since last Wednesday, including two men who authorities have claimed were members of a paramilitary group affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards. However the Human Rights organisation, Hengaw, has said there have been 132 arrests, 12 of which were women and children.

After Mr Trump made his warning, an Iranian politician, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, took to social media to say that the President's words made "all American bases and forces across the region legitimate targets in response to any possible adventurism".