Trump, Iran Exchange Threats  01/02 06:11

   U.S. President Donald Trump and top Iranian officials exchanged dueling 
threats Friday as widening economic protests swept across parts of the Islamic 
Republic, further escalating tensions between the countries after America 
bombed Iranian nuclear sites in June.

   DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- U.S. President Donald Trump and top 
Iranian officials exchanged dueling threats Friday as widening economic 
protests swept across parts of the Islamic Republic, further escalating 
tensions between the countries after America bombed Iranian nuclear sites in 
June.

   Trump initially wrote on his Truth Social platform, warning Iran that if it 
"violently kills peaceful protesters," the United States "will come to their 
rescue." At least seven people have been killed so far in violence surrounding 
the demonstrations, sparked in part by the collapse of Iran's rial currency.

   "We are locked and loaded and ready to go," Trump wrote, without elaborating.

   Shortly after, Ali Larijani, a former parliament speaker who serves as the 
secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, alleged on the social 
platform X that Israel and the U.S. were stoking the demonstrations. He offered 
no evidence to support the allegation, which Iranian officials have repeatedly 
made during years of protests sweeping the country.

   "Trump should know that intervention by the U.S. in the domestic problem 
corresponds to chaos in the entire region and the destruction of the U.S. 
interests," Larijani wrote on X, which the Iranian government blocks. "The 
people of the U.S. should know that Trump began the adventurism. They should 
take care of their own soldiers."

   Larijani's remarks likely referenced America's wide military footprint in 
the region. Iran in June attacked Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar after the U.S. 
strikes on three nuclear sites during Israel's 12-day war on the Islamic 
Republic.

   Ali Shamkhani, an adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who 
previously was the council's secretary for years, warned that "any 
interventionist hand that gets too close to the security of Iran will be cut."

   "The people of Iran properly know the experience of ?being rescued' by 
Americans: from Iraq and Afghanistan to Gaza," he added on X.

   The current protests, now in their sixth day, have become the biggest in 
Iran since 2022, when the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody 
triggered nationwide demonstrations. However, the demonstrations have yet to be 
countrywide and have not been as intense as those surrounding the death of 
Amini, who was detained over not wearing her hijab, or headscarf, to the liking 
of authorities.

   Iran's civilian government under reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian has 
been trying to signal it wants to negotiate with protesters. However, 
Pezeshkian has acknowledged there is not much he can do as Iran's rial has 
rapidly depreciated, with $1 now costing some 1.4 million rials. That sparked 
the initial protests.

   The protests, taking root in economic issues, have heard demonstrators chant 
against Iran's theocracy as well.

   Months after the war, Iran said it was no longer enriching uranium at any 
site in the country, trying to signal to the West that it remains open to 
potential negotiations over its atomic program to ease sanctions. However, 
those talks have yet to happen as Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin 
Netanyahu have warned Tehran against reconstituting its atomic program.