A large anti-Israeli banner portraying an image of a Palestinian fighter and the slogan in Persian and Hebrew, "Endless Voice of Resistance" is erected in Palestine Square in Tehran on December 31, 2025. Israel's Mossad spy agency issued a direct call on December 31, 2025,urging Iranians to press on with protests, saying it was supporting them "on the ground" as demonstrations spread in capital Tehran and other Iranian cities. Protests began on December 28, 2025, with Tehran shopkeepers rallying against Iran's worsening economy have spread to other cities, drawing in students as well. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP via Getty Images)
Atta Kenare | Afp | Getty Images
President Donald Trump said Friday that if Iran "violently" intervenes with peaceful protests, then the U.S. will "come to their rescue."
Unrest has been growing in Iran since last week, as protests erupted over the government's handling of a sharp fall in the nation's currency and soaring prices. Annual inflation hit 42.2% in December, with food prices jumping 72%. The protests turned violent this week as local media reported the death of at least six civilians.
"If Iran shots and violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue," Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social on Friday.
"We are locked and loaded and ready to go," he added.
Iran's supreme leader adviser Ali Larijani responded by saying that U.S. interference in Iran's protests was equivalent to chaos across the entire region on Friday, in comments reported by Reuters.
Iran's economy has struggled since Trump pulled the U.S. out of the Iranian nuclear deal in 2018 and re-imposed sanctions on the country. Last year in June, U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear sites escalated tensions, pulling Washington into Israel's war with its longtime regional rival.
Suzanne Maloney, vice president and director of foreign policy at the Brookings Institution, previously said that the Iranian people were calling for not just a fix to the economy, but for regime change. She added that Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been in power for 36 years.
"We're hearing cries of Death to the dictator. We're hearing slogans that juxtapose the regime's support for militia groups across the region with the real interests and demands of the Iranian people," Maloney told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Wednesday.
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