Trump warns Ayatollah ‘we will start shooting if you do’ as Iran rocked by another night of protests
Donald Trump warned Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that the US will “start shooting” if demonstrators in Iran are targeted by government forces as nationwide protests demanding regime change continued into their 13th day.
The US president and Iran’s supreme leader traded threats as clashes between police and protesters continued across the country on Friday, with all internet and phone lines shut down.
At least 62 protesters and several police officers have been killed in the clashes since they began on 28 December, according to the Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA), with 2,200 arrests so far.
Iranians have demonstrated in more than 100 cities and towns across the country, in the most serious protests in years. Protesters have swarmed the streets in their thousands, shouting anti-regime slogans, while other footage showed cars and piles of motorbikes being set on fire.
Mr Trump said that the head of the Islamic Republic is “looking to go someplace” to escape, adding that Iran is on the “verge of collapse”.
And he warned that the US would hit the country hard if protesters were killed, saying he had “put Iran on notice”.
“There’s so many people protesting,” he said in an interview with Sean Hannity for Fox News. “Nobody’s ever seen anything like what’s happening right now, but I have put Iran on notice that if they start shooting at them – these people are totally unarmed people, and they love their country.
“They want something to happen. Look at their country. They’ve gone back 150 years. But I’ve warned them that if they do anything bad to these people, we’re going to hit them very hard. I’ve said it very loud and very clear, that’s what we’re going to do.”
He later warned Iran’s leaders that they “better not start shooting because we’ll start shooting too”.
Iran and its population are cut off from the outside world after nationwide blackouts were imposed on Thursday and Friday. Footage that did leak out of the country showed buildings and shops in flames, and vehicles overturned. The protests are expected to continue despite the media crackdown.
Sir Keir Starmer urged Tehran to “exercise restraint” amid the crackdown on demonstrations as he condemned the killing of protesters.
In a joint statement with the leaders of France and Germany, the Prime Minister said he was “deeply concerned about reports of violence by Iranian security forces” and “strongly” condemned the killing of protesters.
The leaders added: “The Iranian authorities have the responsibility to protect their own population and must allow for the freedom of expression and peaceful assembly without fear of reprisal.
“We urge the Iranian authorities to exercise restraint, to refrain from violence, and to uphold the fundamental rights of Iran’s citizens.”
