Unlock the free White House Watch newsletter
Your guide to what Trump’s second term means for Washington, business and the world
Donald Trump told Iran’s leaders to “show humanity” in dealing with mass protests in the country and warned Tehran that the US would take “very strong action” if it started executing protesters.
The US President’s comments came on Tuesday while he was traveling from Detroit to Washington, where he was to meet top aides at the White House to continue discussions about possible intervention in Iran.
Asked what his message was to Iran’s leadership, Trump said, “They have to show humanity. They have a big problem and I hope they don’t kill people.”
His comments came a day after Washington stepped up pressure on Iran’s regime, with Trump calling for military strikes on the country and calling on protesters to “occupy their institutions.”
Earlier on Tuesday, the US President had said that America’s next step would depend on whether Iran moves to hang the protesters or not. “If they hang him, you’ll see some things,” he told CBS. “If they do anything like this, we will take strict action,” he said.
The president’s latest warning to Iran comes less than two weeks after he authorized a military operation in Venezuela to capture its powerful President Nicolas Maduro.
Trump’s push to actively support protesters in Iran, possibly with military strikes, would represent a very bold and risky move to remove the leadership of one of America’s strategic enemies that would potentially turn the Middle East upside down.
Trump suggested that US and Israeli airstrikes last June had weakened Iran so much that its ability to retaliate against US interests in the region was limited. But he acknowledged that US airstrikes may not succeed in protecting Iranian protesters, whom he vowed earlier this month to “protect” from regime violence.
The president has also announced 25 percent tariffs on any country that does business with Iran, which could include more than 100 countries. But he has not signed the order to implement the policy.
Asked if he was seeking democracy for Iran, Trump said: “Ideally, you would like to see it, but what we want to see is we don’t want to see people getting killed and we want to see a little bit of freedom for these people.”
Several thousand protesters have been killed since demonstrations began across Iran in late December – with one Western official putting the death toll at between 4,000 and 5,000 people.
Trump said Tuesday that he wanted to “get some accurate data about what’s happening in relation to the assassination. It looks like the assassination is significant, but we don’t know for sure yet.”
Trump had earlier on Tuesday, via his Truth social platform, urged Iranian protesters to “keep protesting” and “occupy your institutions!!!”
Iran’s UN mission called the message a “reckless statement clearly encouraging political instability and inviting violence”, as it blamed the US and Israel for the deaths of civilians in the Islamic republic.
The mission said in a social media post that “US visions and policy towards Iran are rooted in regime change” and that Washington was making “an excuse for military intervention”.
During his speech on the economy in Michigan on Tuesday, Trump mentioned the failed US hostage rescue mission in Iran in 1980, which killed eight US service members.
Trump said of the late president that the operation was “a disaster for Jimmy Carter.” But he suggested his administration would not make the same mistake and would not rule out deploying U.S. troops to Iran again.
“They had all kinds of problems,” he said of the 1980 mission. “It was the complete opposite of Venezuela.”
When Trump traveled to Michigan, Vice President J.D. Vance chaired a meeting of top national security officials.
Although a diplomatic solution to the standoff between the US and Iran remains possible, Trump said on social media on Tuesday that he had canceled all meetings with Tehran officials until the “senseless killing of protesters” ends.
Additional reporting by Henry Foy in Brussels
