U.S. President Donald Trump, who cautioned on Jan. 2 that America would step in to defend Iranians if the Islamic Republic “violently kills peaceful protesters,” repeated his warning in interviews on Thursday as protests against the regime ratcheted up and spread to more parts of Iran.
The Islamic leadership does not appear to have responded to Trump’s first warning, saying on Wednesday it would toughen measures against the protesters, imposing a nationwide internet shutdown.
Reports say security forces have shot directly into crowds. Forty-two people have died in the past 12 days of protests, including five minors under 18 and eight security personnel or officers, the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported on Thursday.
Trump told Fox News’ Sean Hannity, “In the past, they’ve started shooting the hell out of people and all of a sudden people without any weapons whatsoever are standing there and getting machine guns gunning them down or they take them to prisons and then hang them and kill them.
“So they played rough and I said, ‘If they do that, we’re going to hit them very hard.’ We’re going to hit them hard. We’re ready to do it.”
In another interview on Thursday, conservative radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt asked the president whether he had communicated to the ayatollahs the limits of his patience, given that dozens have already been killed.
Trump said that the deaths appear to have been issues of “crowd control” and people have died in at least three stampedes due to the large size of the demonstrations. “I’m not sure I can necessarily hold somebody responsible for that,” he said.
But, he added, Iran’s leaders have been told that if they unleash violence against the protesters, “they’re going to have to pay hell.”
The president wouldn’t say if the U.S. goal was the collapse of the Islamic regime, saying only that “they’re not doing well. ... They’re doing very poorly.”
Trump further signaled his support for the protesters. “You should feel strongly about freedom. There’s nothing like freedom. You’re brave people. It’s a shame what’s happened to your country. Your country was a great country.”
Since Dec. 28, protests have engulfed Iran, triggered by anger over a plummeting currency and rampant inflation, but quickly expanding to a general anger at the regime.
President Trump warns the Iranian regime could collapse amid protests, vowing the U.S. is ready to hit back hard if Tehran turns its guns on unarmed civilians: pic.twitter.com/UNLnK5MINM
— Sean Hannity 🇺🇸 (@seanhannity) January 9, 2026
