President Donald Trump told Iranian protesters “help is on its way” and cut off talks with the Iranian government on Tuesday, as his administration weighed options including military strikes in response to a crackdown that rights monitors say has killed more than 2,500 people since demonstrations began Dec. 28.
The moves mark a sharp shift in Washington’s public posture toward Tehran, coming as protests spanning all of Iran’s 31 provinces have grown into one of the country’s most significant tests of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s rule in years.
President Donald Trump told Iranian protesters “help is on its way” on Tuesday and cut off the prospect of talks with the Iranian government, as his administration weighed options including military strikes in response to a crackdown that rights monitors say has killed more than 2,500 people since demonstrations began Dec. 28.
Trump made the remarks during a visit to an auto plant in Michigan, urging demonstrators to press forward against the government of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. “Iranian Patriots, keep protesting and take over your institutions if you can,” Trump said. “Save the names of the killers and abusers that are abusing you. You are being very badly abused.”
Earlier Tuesday, Trump said he believed the Iranian government was “badly misbehaving” and that his administration would “act accordingly,” though he offered no details. Asked by reporters what kind of help he intended to provide, Trump said: “You’re going to have to figure that one out.”
The remarks came two days after Trump said Iran was seeking to negotiate with Washington — a position Trump appeared to reverse on Tuesday.
Scale of the crackdown
Since the protests began Dec. 28, 16,700 people have been arrested and more than 2,500 have been killed, the vast majority of them protesters, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency, which relies on a network of activists inside Iran to confirm reported fatalities. More than 600 protests have taken place across all of Iran’s 31 provinces, the organization said Tuesday.
Trump told reporters he had not yet received a confirmed death toll, saying he had heard “five different sets of numbers.” He said he believed the killing was “significant.”
The protests began Dec. 28, spurred by the collapse of the Iranian currency, and have since grown into a broader challenge to Khamenei’s rule — the largest demonstrations Iran has seen in years, according to the Associated Press.
Iranian state media has aired at least 97 confessions from protesters since the unrest began, many of them expressing remorse and referencing Israel or the United States, according to a rights group tracking the videos. Iranian officials have cited the confessions as evidence of foreign involvement. Activists have described them as coerced — consistent with a long-standing practice of Iran’s state broadcaster, the country’s only licensed television outlet.
Iran’s response
Iran’s chief envoy to the United Nations, Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani, denounced Trump’s comments in a letter to U.N. officials. “This reckless statement explicitly encourages political destabilization, incites and invites violence and threatens the sovereignty, territorial integrity and national security of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Iravani wrote, describing the remarks as “interventionist rhetoric.”
Iran’s parliamentary speaker warned that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if Washington uses force to protect demonstrators. Trump said he was undeterred.
“Iran said that the last time I blew them up,” Trump said, in reference to threats Iranian officials made before U.S. military strikes on key Iranian nuclear facilities in June. “They better behave.”
U.S. options under review
Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and senior White House National Security Council officials began meeting Friday to develop options for Trump, ranging from a diplomatic approach to military strikes, the AP reported.
Trump announced Monday he would impose 25% tariffs on countries doing business with Tehran “effective immediately,” though the White House had not provided details on the move as of Tuesday. Countries including China, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Brazil and Russia conduct business with Iran.
“We don’t want to see people killed and we want to see a little bit of freedom for these people,” Trump said. “These people have been living in hell for a long time.”
Trump said his administration was managing several other foreign policy matters concurrently, including efforts to advance a second-phase agreement between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, broker a settlement between Russia and Ukraine, and manage the aftermath of what he described as a U.S. military operation that removed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro from power more than a week ago.