US President Donald Trump threatened on Friday to come to the aid of protesters in Iran if security forces open fire on them, days after unrest that has killed several people and posed the biggest internal threat to Iranian authorities in years.

"We are ready and prepared to act," he said in a social media post. The United States attacked Iran's nuclear facilities in June, joining an Israeli air campaign targeting Tehran's atomic program and military leadership.

Top Iranian official Ali Larijani responded to Trump's comments, warning that US interference in Iran's domestic affairs would destabilize the entire region. Iran supports groups in Lebanon, Iraq, and Yemen.

The comments came as a local official in western Iran, where several deaths have been reported, was quoted by state media as warning that any unrest or illegal gatherings would be met with a "firm and merciless" response, raising the possibility of escalation.

BIGGEST PROTESTS IN THREE YEARS

This week's protests over soaring inflation have spread across Iran, with deadly confrontations between demonstrators and security forces concentrated in western provinces.

State-affiliated media and human rights groups have reported at least six deaths since Wednesday, including a man authorities say was a member of the Basij paramilitary force affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards.

Iran has repeatedly weathered major upheavals in recent decades, often suppressing protests with strict security measures and mass arrests. But economic troubles may make authorities more vulnerable now.

This week's protests are the largest in three years, since nationwide demonstrations sparked by the death of a young woman in custody in late 2022 paralyzed Iran for weeks, with human rights groups reporting hundreds of deaths.

Video verified by Reuters showed dozens of people gathering in front of a burning police station overnight, as sporadic gunfire rang out and people chanted "shameless, shameless" at authorities.

In the southern city of Zahedan, where Iran's Baluch minority dominates, the human rights news group Hengaw reported that protesters chanted slogans including "Death to the dictator."

Hengaw has reported 29 arrests so far related to the unrest, mostly in the western region, including 14 members of Iran's Kurdish minority.

State television also reported the arrest of an unspecified number of people in another western city, Kermanshah, accused of making Molotov cocktails and homemade pistols.

Deaths acknowledged by official or semi-official Iranian media occurred in the smaller western cities of Lordegan and Kuhdasht. Hengaw also reported that a man was killed in Fars province in central Iran, although the government news website denied this. (alg)

Source: Reuters.com