Trump encourages protests in Iran: ‘Help is on its way’

Donald Trump is sending increasingly clear signals that he has finished deliberating and is inclined toward some form of U.S. use of force in support of the protesters in Iran.

On Tuesday, he stepped up his recent expressions of support for the protests, which have been ongoing since December, and called on the “patriots” involved to “take over” the institutions.

In a message on his social network, Truth Social, the president also announced the cancellation of the planned contacts between his administration and Iranian representatives. The message ends with: “Help is on its way. MIGA,” the initials for Make Iran Great Again, a variation on his MAGA slogan.

“Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING - TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!! Save the names of the killers and abusers. They will pay a big price,” wrote the U.S. president, who was scheduled this Tuesday to meet with his national security team to study a response to the violent repression of the protests.

The Republican also announced that he has suspended all planned meetings with Iranian representatives aimed at reaching a diplomatic solution to the crisis. The suspension will remain in effect “until the senseless killing of protesters stops.”

Trump, who is traveling this Tuesday to Detroit to deliver an economic speech, had already announced on Monday 25% tariffs against countries that do business with Iran as an initial pressure measure. Also on Monday, the State Department warned its citizens in the Middle Eastern country to leave as soon as possible due to the deterioration of the situation: according to the most recent estimates, at least 2,000 people have died as a result of government repression.

Although the regime led by Masoud Pezeshkian initially responded to the protests with relative calm, the crackdown appears to have intensified sharply as the demonstrations spread.

“Now they are returning to their basic script, which is fundamentally repression, labeling protesters as seditious agents controlled by foreign powers, and the use of violence,” said Ray Takeyh of the Council on Foreign Relations think tank in a videoconference on Monday. “Except that they generally try to use violence in a moderate way, to create a deterrent effect but not too many martyrs. This time they are creating many martyrs, and that could further galvanize the cause.”

Trump’s latest warning represents a further step in an escalation that began 10 days ago, in response to Iran’s repression of protests that initially emerged quietly and in isolated areas over the exchange rate of the rial. Since then, the protests have spread throughout the country and have become one of the greatest threats to the regime since its establishment following the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Trump has threatened almost daily over the past week to “help” freedom in Iran, and this Sunday — a week after authorizing the U.S. forces operation that captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in Caracas — he confirmed that he is considering all kinds of measures, including military ones. “We’re looking at it very seriously,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One. “The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options.”

The president “is unafraid to use the lethal force and might” in Iran, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said on Monday. Although diplomacy remains the preferred option, Leavitt told Fox News that he will not hesitate to use military power “if and when he deems that necessary.” “Nobody knows that better than Iran,” the spokeswoman added. Iran was the target of a U.S. military operation last June that struck targets associated with its nuclear program.

Experts warn that the White House must strike a delicate balance in its response. An intervention could prompt an even harsher wave of repression by the regime against its citizens and lend credence to Tehran’s claims that the protests are being driven from abroad, particularly by the United States. It also risks unleashing a nationalist backlash in which citizens — especially those who have not yet decided whether to support the protesters — rally around the ayatollahs in reaction to foreign intervention.

Or it could trigger an Iranian response that forces the United States to become more deeply involved in a conflict than it wants to be — Trump’s biggest nightmare. All the military interventions he has approved during his year in power — in addition to Iran and Venezuela, in Yemen, Somalia, Syria, and Nigeria — have had one thing in common: their speed, lightning operations concluded in just hours without costing U.S. lives.

A possible intervention, Takeyh notes, “would introduce an unpredictable element into a situation that is already filled with unpredictable elements. These protests, without a leader and without structure, do not need that right now. What they need is persistence.”

Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition