U.S. President Donald Trump and top Iranian officials have exchanged dueling threats as widening economic protests swept across parts of the Islamic Republic. Trump initially wrote on his Truth Social platform, warning Iran that if it “violently kills peaceful protesters,” the United States “will come to their rescue.” At least seven people have been killed so far in violence surrounding demonstrations. Trump wrote that “We are locked and loaded and ready to go." Shortly after, Ali Larijani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said U.S. intervention will lead to “chaos in the entire region and the destruction of the U.S. interests.”
