President Trump has declared his willingness to come to “the rescue” of “peaceful” protestors in Iran should Iranian security forces start shooting them. “If Iran shots and violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue,” Trump posted on Truth Social this morning. “We are locked and loaded and ready to go.”
While the protests began with the shopkeepers, who were concerned with the growing inflation, they have escalated during the last few days. Demonstrations have spread to 17 of Iran’s 31 provinces. Thousands of people have mobilized throughout the country. Initially on Sunday, there were primarily economic demands by the shopkeepers, but the demonstrations have spread, and now in many places protestors are now raising direct political demands, an end to theocracy, even some calling for a return of the monarchy.
As this situation has developed in the context of the New Year’s meeting between Trump and Netanyahu, one should be clearly aware of the danger of the “outside forces”. On Thursday, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs posted on its Farsi social media account pre-revolutionary Iranian images of a lion and a sun with the lion’s paw resting on an hourglass featuring the country’s current flag. The post read: “The rise of Iranian lions and lionesses to fight against darkness”, continuing: “Light triumphs over darkness.”
