Donald Trump has sent a message to Iranian protesters that “help is on its way” as nationwide unrest grips the country amid a deadly crackdown on dissent.
At least 2,000 people have been killed and thousands more arrested, according to human rights groups, with an impenetrable media blackout still in place.
The American leader urged demonstrations, triggered initially by a spiralling economy, to continue and warned Iran would “pay a big price” for the killings.
“Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING – TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!!” he wrote in a post on Truth Social on Tuesday.
Mr Trump said all meetings with Iranian officials – who had previously suggested they were “open to dialogue” – had been cancelled.
“Save the names of the killers and abusers. They will pay a big price. I have cancelled all meetings with Iranian Officials until the senseless killing of protesters STOPS. HELP IS ON ITS WAY. MIGA!!!”
Russia condemned US involvement with a pointed statement by its foreign ministry warning against “subversive external interference”, adding that the threat of US military strikes was “categorically unacceptable”.
The Islamic Republic will carry out its first execution of a protester accused of taking part in the demonstrations tomorrow, according to Hengaw Organisation for Human Rights, an independent NGO based in Norway.
Erfan Soltan, a 26-year-old resident of Fardis, was arrested at his home six days ago and faces death by hanging on Wednesday.
Mr Soltani’s “shocked” and “despairing” family were told of the decision on Monday and have been refused information about his charges or judicial proceedings, the organisation said.
Mr Trump has been unequivocal about using military force in Iran if protesters are killed and was reported to be discussing “several options” with senior military officials on Tuesday.
He announced the imposition of a 25 per cent tariff on Iran’s trading partners “effective immediately” as experts told The Independent that the policy could have a knock-on effect on supply chains across the world. The proposal is yet to be approved by the Supreme Court, but could lead to political ramifications and instability in the region, they said.
Iran has vowed to retaliate and hit US positions in the region if Mr Trump green lights military action. However, it is unclear how serious a threat that is, as the country remains battered by a 12-day war with Israel and the US last year, which pounded much of its military infrastructure, including aid defence systems, its commanders and its nuclear facilities.
German chancellor Friedrich Merz said, “We are now witnessing the final days and weeks” of the present government.
“When a regime can only maintain power through violence, then it is effectively at its end. The population is now rising up against this regime,” he said.
Meanwhile, the European Union is discussing additional sanctions against Iran, according to foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas.
“The EU already has sweeping sanctions in place on Iran … and we are discussing putting additional sanctions,” she said.
The protests first erupted as the country’s local currency, the rial, spiralled, with costs soaring.
But protesters have since called for a complete overthrow of the authoritarian clerical rulers, and in some quarters even a return to Iran’s monarchy, which was overthrown in the 1979 revolution which heralded in the Islamic State.
Iran’s powerful security forces launched a ferocious crackdown. Disturbing footage smuggled out of Iran appeared to show hundreds of bodies littering a morgue in Tehran, as heartbroken families, sobbing, tried to identify missing loved ones among the dead.
According to the activists who shared multiple videos of the site, the Kahrizak forensic centre has become the main gathering point for the dead. They said as many as 2000 bodies – some of them burned, others bearing gunshot wounds – were bought there in trucks, with some stored in refrigerated containers.
With internet and phone lines still cut off, it is impossible to verify the images and to ascertain if rallies are still ongoing. Videos sent via Starlink and shared with trusted Iranian Telegram accounts, apparently showed rallies erupting on Sunday and Monday in the capital, Ahvah in the West and Isfahan in the centre of the country.
Experts told The Independent the current unrest is one of the gravest threats the regime has faced. But there are concerns that unless there is serious direct foreign intervention, nothing will change on the ground.
“The regime has a monopoly on arms and violence and there is no real no armed resistance,” said Negar Mortazavi, host of The Iran Podcast and senior fellow of US-based Center for International Policy.
“They have been able to crush protests, even the largest protests in 2009, 2019 and 2022 with an iron fist deadly, violent response,” she warned.
And despite the nationwide rallies, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has sought to shore up his support. State TV broadcast footage showing tens of thousands of pro-government supporters marching in the streets on Monday and listening to the parliament speaker rail against the West.
Iran’s supreme leader has insisted that the Islamic Republic would “not back down” and accused protesters of being “saboteurs” and “terrorist agents” working for foreign governments, including the US and Israel.
Meanwhile, Reza Pahlavi – the exiled son of monarch Reza Pahlavi who was overthrown in the 1979 Islamic revolution – is positioning himself as an interim leader to manage a transition.
Claiming he is “steward of a national transition to democracy”, he has repeatedly called on protesters to keep rallying in the streets and has even said he is preparing to return to Iran in the event of the fall of Khamenei.
