Trump tells Iranian protesters 'help is on its way'

Iran's ambassador to the United Nations has criticized comments made by US President Donald Trump regarding the ongoing protests against the Iranian government – and promised that Iran will defend itself against any attempt at external intervention.

"US fantasies and policy toward Iran are rooted in regime change, with sanctions, threats, engineered unrest, and chaos serving as the modus operandi to manufacture a pretext for military intervention," the Iranian UN mission wrote on social media. "This playbook has failed before. The Iranian people will defend their country — and, most assuredly, it will fail again."

Attached to the post was an official letter of complaint addressed to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the President of the UN Security Council, Abukar Osman.

In the letter, the Iranian ambassador described Trump's encouragement of further protest and his promise to demonstrators that "help is on its way" (see earlier post) as a "reckless statement" which "explicitly encourages political destabilization, incites and invites violence, and threatens the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and national security of the Islamic Republic of Iran."

The ambassador condemned what he called Trump's "interventionist rhetoric."

US President Donald Trump threatened to "take very strong action" if Iranian authorities begin hanging anti-government protesters this week.

"We will take very strong action. If they do such a thing, we will take very strong action," Trump told CBS News during an interview.

An Iranian official told Reuters news agency that at least 2,000 people have been killed in protests so far, including protesters and security personnel.

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agencysaid Tuesday that more than 2,000 people have been killed since demonstrations began on December 28, including 135 people affiliated with the government.

US President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff reportedly held a secret meeting with the exiled former crown prince of Iran over the weekend, according to Axios.

Reza Pahlavi, the son of the Iranian shah who was deposed during the 1979 Islamic Revolution, has been encouraging the protests from exile in the US.

Pahlavi has sought to position himself for a key transitional, and potentially longer-term, leadership role in Iran should the current regime fall.

Under the rule of his father, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Iran was among the US' strongest allies in the Middle East.

Iran is facing its deadliest unrest in years amid a nationwide internet blackout. Verified footage shows rows of body bags outside a morgue near Tehran, while protests erupt in cities like Urmia and the capital.

Authorities have detained thousands, charging some with "waging war against God," a crime punishable by death. UN experts condemn Iran's use of lethal force, as activists rely on Starlink to bypass censorship.

The International Crisis Group, a global think tank, released a report outlining some of the dangers of military action in Iran, as US President Donald Trump gears up for a meeting with top Cabinet officials to weigh his options as protesters face violence and an intense crackdown by Iranian authorities.

Ali Vaez, the Crisis Group's Iran Project Director, said that the upheaval in Iran since late December deepened two major standoffs, "between the Islamic Republic and Iranian society, and between Tehran and the Trump administration."

The report emphasized that both Iran and its outside adversaries have no good options. Tehran, it said, deems surrendering to its people's wishes as perilous as bowing to Trump's demands, but it has almost no cushion left for continued resistance.

A broader military campaign against key Iranian military facilities and personnel would make a big bang but generate dangers, including prolonged violence along ideological, ethnic and sectarian lines, the report said. It could also prompt Iranian retaliation.

Trump earlier called on Iranian demonstrators to keep protesting, saying "help was on its way," without clarifying what he meant. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday that the US president was weighing a host of options, including air strikes, but that his first choice was diplomacy.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has called on Iran's authorities to end violence against protesters. "I believe we are now seeing the final days and weeks of this regime," he said during a visit to Bengaluru, India.

Hannah Neumann, a Member of the European Parliament from the Greens group and chair of its delegation for relations with Iran, spoke with DW about the unrest in Iran and the EU's response.

Neumann said European leaders were trying to show solidarity with anti-government protesters. At the same time, they wanted to send clear messages to the regime that the violence was outrageous and unacceptable.

But she said the EU has to do more, saying, "We will need more of a response than just calling in ambassadors."

Neumann said an effective way to censure Iranian authorities would be to put the Islamic Revolutionary Guard on the EU's terror list, a measure that has faced obstacles for years.

"So first of all, we need to finally, finally, put the Revolutionary Guard on the EU's terror list. They're terrorizing their own people," she said, adding:

"But I actually also think it is time to expel ambassadors and ambassadorial personnel from the European Union, because they are clearly misusing the diplomatic privileges for transnational oppression."

"This regime is clearly showing at the moment that they have no interest in dialogue. So why should we still continue to give them this preferential access to the European Union?"

Neumann also called for the EU to support different opposition groups to make it "very clear that in our perspective, this regime has really lost and there is no way for the people in this regime to return to normal." 

 

The death toll from nationwide protests in Iran surpassed 2,000 people on Tuesday, according to the US-based Human Rights Activist News Agency, the news service of the nongovernmental organization Human Rights Activist in Iran.

That figure dwarfs the death toll from any other round of protest in Iran in decades and recalls the chaos surrounding the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution that deposed the monarchy and established the Islamic Republic.

Iranian state television quoted an official saying the country had "a lot of martyrs." The official added that authorities did not release a toll earlier because many of the dead suffered gruesome injuries.

Verifying the scale of demonstrations and the violence against protesters has been difficult due to an internet blackout in Iran. However, a video showing body bags lined up outside a morgue near Tehran has circulated on social media and been verified by news outlets.

It remains unclear whether the protests will lead to the fall of the clerical regime, but experts say the vast protests have put Iran's highest authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, under enormous pressure.

Italy's foreign minister said he summoned the Iranian ambassador over the "absolutely unacceptable" crackdown by Iranian authorities to quell protests across the country.

"These ​days, ​men and women across Iran are fighting in the streets and squares, paying a very high price," Minister Antonio Tajani ⁠told ​the lower house of ‌parliament.

Italy joins a host of European nations, including Germany, in calling in the Iranian ambassador to protest against an intense crackdown by Iranian authorities on those protesting against the clerical regime.

Russia condemned what it described as "subversive external interference" in Iran's internal politics and said US threats of new military strikes against the country were "categorically unacceptable."

"Those who plan to use externally ‍inspired unrest as ​a pretext for ​repeating the aggression against Iran committed in June 2025 must be aware of the ‍disastrous consequences of such actions for ​the situation in the Middle East ⁠and ​global international security," the Russian Foreign ‌Ministry ‌said in a statement.

Russia has become one of Iran's closest allies in recent years and appears to support the Iranian regime in its time of need, according to experts.

President Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs against countries doing business with Iran, with Russia being among the top ten trading partners of Iran as of 2024.

The German Foreign Ministry posted to X that the heavy-handed policing of dissent by Iranian authorities over the course of protests was "shocking," adding that the government has summoned Iran's ambassador in Berlin to protest against it.

"The brutal approach of the Iranian regime against its own population is shocking. We strongly urge #Iran to end the violence against its own citizens and to respect their rights. The Iranian ambassador was summoned to the Federal Foreign Office."

 

US President Donald Trump says he's canceled meetings with Iranian officials and told protesters 'help is on its way,' without giving details.

"Iranian Patriots, KEEP ‍PROTESTING - TAKE OVER ​YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!!... ​HELP IS ON ITS WAY," Trump said in a post ‍on his Truth Social platform.

The White House says airstrikes on Iran 'remain on the table,' as US President Donald Trump weighs up his response to a crackdown on nationwide protests. Meanwhile, rights groups say they have confirmed the killing of many hundreds of people during the demonstrations — the largest in several years.

DW News looks at what action the US might take, and how Iranians are getting around a communications blackout imposed by authorities to curb the protests.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said the European Union would seek to impose more sanctions on Iranian authorities over their crackdown on protesters.

In a post on X, von der Leyen said, "the rising number of casualties is horrifying" as she slammed the "excessive use of force and continued restriction of freedom."

The EU already sanctions the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — the paramilitary force that is loyal to Iran's Supreme Leader and upholds the regime's fundamentalist principles — "in its entirety" as part of the bloc's human rights sanctions.

Von der Leyen said she and the EU's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas would "swiftly" propose more sanctions "on those responsible for the repression."

"We stand with the people of Iran who are bravely marching for their liberty," von der Leyen said.

DW has spoken with Kasra Aarabi, the director of research into Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) at US think tank United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), which has close ties to US political circles, including US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Aarabi called for Washington to carry out military operations in support of protests in Iran.

He said that this was necessary as Iran has an "extensive suppressive apparatus that cuts across every level and sector of Iranian society."

"The cycle of protests and repression will continue until you change the balance of power between the unarmed civilians and the fully-armed and fully radicalized suppressive apparatus," he said.

He called for the US to carry out "targeted military strikes that focus on that suppressive infrastructure," including "IRGC headquarters, sub-headquarters [and] operational units."

Asked whether Washington could directly target or capture Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, similar to its military operations in Venezuela that led to the capture of its president, Nicolas Maduro, Aarabi stressed that the situation in Iran was different.

"I think the context in Iran is very different to Venezuela — in Iran you have a highly radicalized and extensive security apparatus that is loyal to ... Ali Khamenei," he said.

He argued that while "eliminating Khamenei" would provide a "major shock to the foundations of the Islamic Republic [of Iran]," must also be accompanied by a "targeted military campaign that focuses on the suppressive infrastructure."

Aarabi called for European countries to put "full diplomatic pressure" on Iran and "adopt a tough stance against ... Iranian oil," as well as to carry out "cyberwarfare operations."