Iran Warns Trump, Says Protests “Mostly Peaceful”
I told them they were mostly peaceful
Iran officials warn Trump of red line after his threat to ‘rescue’ protesters
Foreign minister says Iranian military is on standby after US president said he would act if demonstrators were killed
Donald Trump has threatened to intervene in Iran if its government kills demonstrators, prompting warnings from senior Iranian officials that any American interference would cross a “red line”.
In a social media post on Friday, Trump said that if Iran were to shoot and kill protesters, the US would “come to their rescue”. He added: “We are locked and loaded, and ready to go,” without explaining what that might mean in practice.
Protests in Iran are in their sixth day, and are the largest since 2022, when the death in police custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini triggered demonstrations across the country. The current unrest was triggered by an unprecedented decline in the value of the national currency on Sunday. The Iranian rial dropped to about 1.4m to the US dollar, further harming an already beleaguered economy.
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, called Trump’s statement “reckless and dangerous”, and said the country’s military was on standby. He also said the protests had been mostly peaceful, but that attacks on public property would not be tolerated.
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At least seven people have been killed, and videos have shown security forces carrying shotguns with the sound of shooting in the background.
Iran was already dealing with sky-high inflation, international sanctions, drought, and frequent power outages. The Iranian government’s prioritization of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) over social welfare has been a point of tension for several years. The 12-day war with Israel and the US attacks dismantling their nuclear program exposed their military as weak and ineffective. The government reacted by imposing austerity measures and cutting subsidies while ramping up spending on the IRGC and state security by nearly 150 percent, all while wages fell far below inflation.
Now they have Venezuela to think about. When Trump speaks things happen.
I can’t say I’m terribly enthused about our ambitions in Venezeula, though that heavily hinges on whether we get involved in another 20 year boondoggle of graft and fraud disguised as “nation-building.” If we avoid that, I’m happy as a lark.
If we were to pull the same kind of stunt in Iran, then backstop them forming a new government, then get the hell out…well, then, that sounds like FAFO to the appropriate parties to me. To be fair, it would be fairly hard to make Iran *more* of a destabilizing influence as it is to the ME, short of it turning into Somalia 2.0…
We don’t have to. The Russians will allow them a freedom flight.
https://www.thetimes.com/world/middle-east/article/iran-ayatollah-khamenei-escape-moscow-protests-revealed-h5f95ctb5
If the liberal DemoRats seem to always favor the dick tators all over the world if a Republican is in office then why don’t they favor Pres. Trump if he is labeled as a dictator or a nazi..
I wonder..
SO SCARY…!!!
“Mostly peaceful”–Where have I heard that before?
When government goons have to shoot down the protesters to get them to disperse, does that meet the left’s definition of a “mostly peaceful” protest?