Trump says U.S. will intervene if Iran kills peaceful protesters as economic unrest spreads

President Donald Trump vowed Friday to intervene if Iran shoots or violently kills peaceful demonstrators, as economic protests spread and evolved into deadly unrest

President Donald Trump vowed Friday to intervene if Iran shoots or violently kills peaceful demonstrators, as economic protests spread and evolved into deadly unrest.

If Iran "kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue. We are locked and loaded and ready to go," Trump said in an overnight post on Truth Social.

Senior Iranian officials fired back, warning that U.S. intervention would spark regional chaos and make American forces in the Middle East "legitimate targets."

It comes after protests in the Islamic Republic took a sharply violent turn in recent days, with at least seven deaths reported by a human rights organization and at least three reported by a semiofficial news agency.

The protests erupted Sunday in the capital, Tehran, with crowds largely chanting about economic grievances after the country's currency hit a record low against the dollar as prices soar.