Trump says protest-hit Iran in ‘big trouble’, again threatens military strike
The US president warned that ‘we’ll start shooting too’, if the authorities kill demonstrators
US President Donald Trump said on Friday that Iran, faced with major protests, was in “big trouble” and again warned he could order military strikes.
“Iran’s in big trouble. It looks to me that the people are taking over certain cities that nobody thought were really possible just a few weeks ago,” Trump said.
Protests have taken place across Iran for 13 days in a movement sparked by anger over the rising cost of living that is now marked by calls for the end of the clerical system that has ruled Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution that ousted the pro-Western shah.
Asked on his message to Iran’s leaders, Trump said, “You better not start shooting because we’ll start shooting too.”
“If they start killing people like they have in the past, we will get involved,” Trump said. “That doesn’t mean boots on the ground, but it means hitting them very, very hard where it hurts.”
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Iran imposes internet blackout as protests enter 12th day
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, vowed on Friday that the Islamic republic would not back down, as authorities pressed an internet blackout as part of a crackdown that has left dozens dead.