Trump says ‘help is on its way’ as he urges people in Iran to ‘keep protesting’ and to ‘take over’ their institutions
Table of Contents
- Trump says ‘help is on its way’ as he urges people in Iran to ‘keep protesting’ and to ‘take over’ their institutions
- European countries summon Iran ambassadors
- UK announces new Iran sanctions and summons ambasasdor
- Trump says ‘help is on its way’ as he urges people in Iran to ‘keep protesting’ and to ‘take over’ their institutions
- UK minister ‘fearful’ that reports from Iran ‘may underestimate full scale of the horror’ of protest crackdown
- How do these protests compare with previous demonstrations in Iran?
- What we know about the estimated death toll so far
- EU to ‘swiftly’ propose further sanctions on Iran, von der Leyen says
In a post to Truth Socialthe US president, Donald Trumphas said:
Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING – TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!! Save the names of the killers and abusers. They will pay a big price. I have cancelled all meetings with Iranian Officials until the senseless killing of protesters STOPS. HELP IS ON ITS WAY. MIGA!!! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP
It is not clear what Trump means by “help is on its way” but the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, told journalists yesterday that airstrikes were among the “many, many options” that the president was considering, though she added that diplomacy “was always the first option”.
Key events
European countries summon Iran ambassadors
France, Germany, Spain, the UK, Finland and Denmark have all announced this afternoon that they have summoned Iran’s respective ambassadors in their countries to their foreign ministries to formally object to the killings.
The German foreign ministry said: “The Iranian regime’s brutal crackdown on its own population is shocking,” while France’s foreign minister called it “state violence unquestioningly unleashed on peaceful protesters”.
Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, said: “Iran must immediately cease the repression of peaceful protests, arbitrary detentions and restrictions on freedom of expression.
“We have summoned the Iranian ambassador in Spain to express our rejection of the violence against demonstrators and to urge respect for the fundamental rights of Iranians.”
We know Trump is assessing what, if any, military action he takes to exert pressure on the Iranian regime following its deadly crackdown.
Yesterday White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News the president was “unafraid to use the lethal force and might of the United States military if and when he deems that necessary” but that diplomacy was always preferred.
She also told reporters outside the White House:
Airstrikes would be one of the many, many options that are on the table for the commander-in-chief. Diplomacy is always the first option for the president.
Back to the Trump message where he urges Iranians to keep protesting and “take over your institutions”.
He’s also slammed the lid shut on the prospect of any meetings with Tehran.
Yesterday the Iranian foreign minister had said he’d been in touch with US special envoy Steve Witkoff and that communication channel remained open.
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also told reporters yesterday that the channel for diplomacy remained open, and Tehran was taking a “far different tone” in discussions with Witkoff.
But Trump today says he’s cancelled all meetings with officials “until the senseless killings of protesters STOPS”.
UK announces new Iran sanctions and summons ambasasdor
Further sanctions against Iran “will target finance, energy, transport, software and other significant industries”, Yvette Cooper has said.
The UK’s foreign secretary said she previously told leaders in Tehran that it would “take time to fully implement the UK sanctions, and during that window, they should start compliance and engagement with the international community and end the deception and obfuscation”.
She added: “Weapons inspectors still have not been given access, and far from changing their approach, we have seen instead a reversion to the most brutal forms of repression on their own streets.
“As a result, I can confirm the UK will bring forward legislation to implement full and further sanctions and sectoral measures.
“The UK has already designated key players in Iran’s oil, energy, nuclear and financial systems.”
She told parliament she had also summoned the Iranian ambassador, after speaking to Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi yesterday.
Trump says ‘help is on its way’ as he urges people in Iran to ‘keep protesting’ and to ‘take over’ their institutions
In a post to Truth Socialthe US president, Donald Trumphas said:
Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING – TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!! Save the names of the killers and abusers. They will pay a big price. I have cancelled all meetings with Iranian Officials until the senseless killing of protesters STOPS. HELP IS ON ITS WAY. MIGA!!! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP
It is not clear what Trump means by “help is on its way” but the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, told journalists yesterday that airstrikes were among the “many, many options” that the president was considering, though she added that diplomacy “was always the first option”.
UK minister ‘fearful’ that reports from Iran ‘may underestimate full scale of the horror’ of protest crackdown
The UK’s foreign secretary, Yvette Cooperhas condemned the Iranian leadership for the “horrendous and brutal killing” of protesters, and said the government had summoned the Iranian ambassador to underline the gravity of the situation.
She called Iran’s crackdown on anti-government protesters the “most brutal and bloody repression against public protests in Iran for at least 13 years”.
Addressing MPs in the House of Commons in London, Cooper said:
I am fearful that the reports that we have seen may underestimate the full scale of the horror as further evidence and testimony reaches the outside world.
Videos are still emerging, including of what appear to be protester corpses lined up in body bags outside a hospital in the outskirts of Tehran.
The Iranian regime has called for a three-day period of national mourning but only for its security forces. No acknowledgment of dead protesters.
Instead, the regime peddles its manufactured narrative of foreign manipulation and seeks to portray peaceful protesters as criminals and terrorists, all the while pursuing a brutal and relentless crackdown on its own people.
You can watch the foreign secretary’s address live here:
How do these protests compare with previous demonstrations in Iran?
Iran has been ruled by autocrats since 1979. For the past two decades, there has been wave after wave of protests – often led by students – calling for regime change.
Significant moments include a public outcry over the disputed 2009 presidential election and the crackdown on the 2022-23 “Woman, life, freedom” movement that was sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, who had been arrested for allegedly wearing her hijab the wrong way.
Anti-government observers say the protests are growing in size and concentration, but it is difficult to verify those claims without independent observers on the ground.
One noteworthy aspect of this year’s protests has been references to Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s deposed shah. Videos have shown crowds calling for the return of the shah, who is based in the US, although it is unclear how widespread the support is for the former monarchy.
You can read more in this explainer by my colleagues Maheen Sadiq, Arnel Hecimovic, Lucy Swan and Oliver Holmes here:
As we’ve reported, US President Trump’s announcement of a 25% tariff hit on any country doing business with Iran has already sparked criticism from ChinaIran’s leading export partner.
China is by far Iran’s biggest trading partner, buying 77% of its oil exports in 2024, according to the data firm Kpler. It recently ended a tariff war with Trump.
Iran also does major trade with Iraq, UAE, Turkey and India. More than 140 countries still trade with Iranaccording to the World Bank, but sometimes only in minuscule amounts.
What we know about the estimated death toll so far
Some more on these numbers we’re getting on the death toll – it is becoming increasingly clear that most likely, several thousand people have been killed in the protests.
Reuters has spoken to an Iranian government official who says about 2,000 people, including security personnel, have been killed in the unrest – one of the first acknowledgements from authorities of the high death toll.
And while several rights groups say they’ve identified by name hundreds of the killed– the NGO Iran said it had confirmed 648 peopleincluding nine minors, it’s also warned the last two days that the death toll was likely much higher – “according to some estimates more than 6,000”.
The UN’s human right’s office said this morning it believed hundreds had been killed. It does not have a presence in Iran but said it was receiving reliable information from sources on the ground.
EU to ‘swiftly’ propose further sanctions on Iran, von der Leyen says
The European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said the bloc will “swiftly” propose further sanctions on those responsible for the “repression” of demonstrations in Iran.
“The rising number of casualties in Iran is horrifying. I unequivocally condemn the excessive use of force and continued restriction of freedom,” she wrote in a post on X.
“The European Union has already listed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in its entirety under its human rights sanctions regime.”
The EU has already adopted a wide-ranging set of sanctions against Iran, mainly in the form of travel bans and asset freezes.
The Guardian’s diplomatic editor, Patrick Wintourhas written an analysis piece exploring the factors the US is considering as it weighs up a potential attack on Iran. Donald Trump’s national security team is expected to hold a meeting at the White House to consider its options later. Here is an extract from Patrick’s story:
A major intervention by Washington, some are warning, will only fuel the fire of an Iranian government narrative that the protests are being manipulated as part of an anti-Islamic plot being led by the US and Israel.
Trump has promised that he will “shoot at Iran” if Iranian security services attack protesters; however, analysts suggested the speed of the crisis meant his team has no developed response ready.
There has been no major movement of US military assetsand many of his closest Middle East partners such as Qatar are urging restraint. Military options and other possibilities were being placed in front of the unpredictable president, the New York Times and Wall Street Journal reported. The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, spoke to the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, on Saturday.
The population density of Tehran – where roughly 12 million Iranians live – means it is hard to mount a targeted campaign from the air without risking many civilian casualties, as the US-Israeli assault in June showed. More than 1,000 Iranians died, creating a new, now apparently dissipated, nationalism.
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi gave an interview with Al Jazeera on Monday in which he warned the US that his country was ready for war if Washington wants to “test” it.
“If Washington wants to test the military option it has tested before, we are ready for it,” Araghchi said, adding that he hoped the Trump administration would choose “the wise option” of dialogue, while warning of “those trying to drag Washington into war in order to serve Israel’s interests”.
The foreign minister suggested Iran’s military preparedness was greater than it was last June when the US launched strikes on Iran’s three major nuclear sites (which subsequent satellite imagery suggested caused more limited damage than Donald Trump had claimed).
After the US struck Iran’s nuclear enrichment sites last yearIran carried out a telegraphed strike – which was seen as largely symbolic – on a US military base in Qatar, which did not lead to any deaths among US military personnel.
In his interview with Al Jazeera, Araghchi also said that “terrorist elements” had “infiltrated the crowds of protesters and targeted security forces and demonstrators” in Iran.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to intervene if Tehran killed protesters. The White House on Monday said the US president was not afraid to use military force, but wanted diplomacy.
Spain has summoned Iran’s ambassador to Madrid to express “strong repudiation and condemnation” of the deadly crackdown on protests that has reportedly killed nearly 650 people, the foreign minister said.
“The right of Iranian men and women to peaceful protest, their freedom of expression, must be respected” and “arbitrary arrests must cease”, Jose Manuel Albares told Catalunya Radio.
Finland’s foreign minister, Elina Valtonenmeanwhile, said she would summon Iran’s ambassador. In a post on Xshe said:
Iran’s regime has shut down the internet to be able to kill and oppress in silence. This will not be tolerated. We stand with the people of Iran – women and men alike.
I will summon the Iranian ambassador this morning. Together with the EU, Finland is exploring measures to help restore freedom to the Iranian people.
