Donald Trump has seemingly threatened Iran with military action, warning that the U.S. Army is “locked and loaded and ready to go.”
The president made his fiery remark in a furious post on Truth Social, as he ramped up his rhetoric against the Iranian regime.
His threat came as protests erupted across Iran, with protestors being heard calling for the overthrow of Ayatollah Khamenei.
“If Iran shoots and violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue,” Trump warned. “We are locked and loaded and ready to go.
“Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J.TRUMP” he added.
The protests in Iran have primarily centered on the country’s economic hardships, many of which have persisted since the U.S. first imposed tariffs on the country’s government in 2018.
One protestor told The Guardian that Iran’s currency crashing to a new low on Sunday sparked the new wave of protests.
“What will my children eat? Do we have to bring suitcases of cash to simply buy bread? Do you find that normal?” he told the newspaper.
Seven people have been killed in clashes between security forces and protestors. Social media video obtained by the BBC showed cars being set ablaze and roads blocked in the capital Tehran, as well as Azna and Kouhdasht.
However, one of Trump’s former loyalists has slammed the president for wanting to get involved in unrest overseas.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene ended 2025 with a furious post on X, in which she claimed that Americans were planning a “tax revolt” over Trump’s involvement in “foreign wars.”
“Trump spent the weekend with Zelensky and Netanyahu, Pentagon fails audit again, meanwhile Americans are planning a tax revolt because they don’t know what else to do to get their elected officials to stop their money from being given to thieves, foreigners, and foreign wars,” she wrote.
Greene previously criticized Trump for authorizing a strike on three nuclear facilities in Iran in June 2025.
Nicknamed Operation Midnight Hammer, the strike saw fourteen “bunker buster” bombs being unloaded on the facilities in a bid to prevent Iran from allegedly developing a nuclear weapon.
Trump claimed that Operation Midnight Hammer had “completely and totally obliterated” Iran’s nuclear enrichment plants, despite a Pentagon assessment determining that the strike had merely set Iran’s program back by months, according to the BBC.
The bombing was the U.S.’s only direct involvement in Israel’s war with Iran, which also ended in June.
Greene publicly defended former Fox News host and isolationistTucker Carlson at the time, after the president branded him “kooky” for his criticism of the attack.
“And foreign wars/intervention/regime change put America last, kill innocent people, are making us broke, and will ultimately lead to our destruction,” Greene blasted. “That’s not kooky.
“That’s what millions of Americans voted for,” she added. “It’s what we believe is America First.”
As tensions soar with Iran just days into 2026, Retired Lieutenant Colonel Tony Shaffer warned that the U.S. needs to exercise extreme caution if further strikes go ahead.
“Well, it depends on what the target is,” he told The Chris Salcedo Show on Thursday. “There are a number of things that are going on right now that we could be helpful with.
“One of those things, obviously, is the unrest in the street,” he added. “We want to make it very clear, we’re against the mullahs and theocracy, not the people of Iran.”
Meanwhile, Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian warned on X that his country would respond to any aggression from the U.S.
“Answer of Islamic Republic of Iran to any cruel aggression will be harsh and discouraging,” he wrote on X, in a post translated by CBS.
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