Mass protests in Iran take a deadly turn — Will Trump respond? - video Dailymotion

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Watch Mass protests in Iran take a deadly turn — Will Trump respond? - New York Post on Dailymotion

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00:00An Islamic nation plunged into chaos as anti-government protesters take to the streets over the nation's severely battered economy.

00:08Why are there mass protests in Iran? And could the government's deadly response lead to U.S. intervention?

00:14Here's everything you need to know.

00:16At the end of December, raucous protests erupted across Iran as traders, shopkeepers, and students all joined together in heated rallies

00:23to challenge the Iranian regime's leaders and the country's lousy economic conditions.

00:28With a collapsing currency rate and sky-high inflation, prices for food and other bare necessities have skyrocketed in the Islamic nation,

00:37with the inflation rate sharply rising to 42.2% compared to 2024.

00:43Iran also bumped up gas prices for the first time since 2019, which was met with anger from the public.

00:49Tensions flared in Tehran and several other cities across the country,

00:53all while security forces led by Iran's Ayatollah, Ali Khamenei, tried to maintain control.

00:59Shocking video posted on social media captured the moment protesters in the western city of Asna set a police station ablaze.

01:07The demonstrators could be heard chanting,

01:09This is the last battle. Pahlavi will return, a reference to the royal dynasty's son,

01:14whose father was thrown from power during the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

01:19Videos also circulated on social media depicting Iranian civilians taking to the streets with chants,

01:25calling for the fall of their radical Islamist government.

01:28According to the BBC, some students were booming with chants of,

01:32Death to the dictator and death to Khamenei.

01:35A powerful video obtained by Iran International has also spread across social media,

01:40and has drawn comparisons to the historic Tank Man photo,

01:44taken during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests in China.

01:47The powerful video captured a brave individual in all black,

01:51sitting in the middle of the street in Tehran,

01:53their head calmly bowed, blocking police on motorbikes from riding down the road.

01:58While Iranian officials have typically attempted to clamp down ruthlessly on open dissent,

02:03like during the 2012 Arab Spring and the 2022 mass protests,

02:08Iran's president, Massoud Pazeshkian, sought to appease protesters,

02:12claiming the government would listen to their legitimate demands.

02:15But while Iran's president struck a more conciliatory tone,

02:19there's been an increasingly heavy-handed response by armed forces in recent days.

02:24According to a report from the non-profit NGO, Human Rights Activists in Iran,

02:29at least 20 people have been killed in the demonstrations,

02:32and nearly 1,000 have been arrested.

02:35Disturbing eyewitness video posted on social media allegedly captured the moment Iranian protesters

02:40were fired upon in the town of Malik Shahi in western Iran.

02:53A report from the non-profit Kurdistan Human Rights Network

02:57claimed Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard killed three

03:00and injured more than 30 during the shootout.

03:03President Trump has also vowed to help protesters,

03:06issuing a vague promise of support of peaceful demonstrations erupting in Iran.

03:11In a nearly 3 a.m. Truth Social post on January 2nd,

03:15Trump posted,

03:16If Iran shoots and violently kills peaceful protesters,

03:19which is their custom,

03:20the United States of America will come to their rescue.

03:23We are locked and loaded and ready to go.

03:26Thank you for your attention to this matter.

03:27It was only a little more than 24 hours later

03:30that Trump announced the U.S.'s large-scale operation in Venezuela,

03:34which led to the capture of dictator Nicolas Maduro

03:37and his wife, Celia Flores.

03:40Since Trump's military operation in Venezuela,

03:42and along with his threat to Iran,

03:44the president's continued a strong-arm approach,

03:47issuing a handful of warnings to several other nations,

03:50including Cuba, Colombia, Mexico, and Greenland.

03:53The commander-in-chief is calling his hard-line approach

03:56the Donro Doctrine,

03:58a play on the words of the Monroe Doctrine,

04:00which told European powers to stop meddling in the Western Hemisphere.

04:04Our new national security strategy,

04:07American dominance in the Western Hemisphere,

04:10will never be questioned again.

04:12Won't happen.

04:13In response to Trump's Truth Social post,

04:15Ali Laranjani,

04:17a former parliament speaker

04:18who serves as the secretary of Iran's

04:20Supreme National Security Council,

04:22alleged on X that Israel and the U.S.

04:24were stoking the demonstrations.

04:27Trump should know that U.S. interference

04:29in this internal matter

04:30would mean destabilizing the entire region

04:32and destroying America's interests.

04:35The American people should know

04:36Trump started this adventurism.

04:38They should be mindful of their soldiers' safety.

04:41Ali Shamkani,

04:42an advisor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei,

04:45who previously was the council's secretary for years,

04:48also wrote on X that

04:50any interventionist hand

04:51that gets too close to the security of Iran

04:53will be cut.

04:55But new reporting from Reuters

04:56has revealed that Iranian officials

04:58might be putting up a front.

05:00A source close to Iran's leadership

05:02told the outlet that

05:03Trump's military action in Venezuela

05:05means Iran could be, quote,

05:07the next victim of Trump's aggressive foreign policy.

05:10On January 4th,

05:11Trump doubled down on his Truth Social remarks about Iran,

05:14telling reporters that his administration

05:16was watching the protests closely.

05:18If they start killing people

05:19like they have in the past,

05:21I think they're going to get hit very hard by the United States.

05:24Iran's Ayatollah is also reportedly feeling the heat

05:27and has a plan B

05:28should the protests garner strength.

05:31New reporting from the Times UK

05:32revealed that Khamenei plans to flee the country

05:35if his security forces fail to quell the demonstrations.

05:38An intelligence source told the outlet

05:40that Khamenei could escape Tehran

05:42with his family and close aides to Moscow,

05:44much like ousted Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad did in 2024.

05:49Tehran's beleaguered supreme leader

05:51is still trying to regain control,

05:53acknowledging the Iranians' right to protest,

05:55but pushing back against rioters,

05:57who should, quote,

05:58be put in their place.

06:00It wouldn't be unheard of

06:01for the U.S. to take up arms against Iran.

06:04Just this past June,

06:05the Pentagon sent warplanes

06:06to wipe out Tehran's nuclear program,

06:09following Israel's Operation Rising Lion bombing campaign.

06:13The Pentagon said the Iran strikes,

06:16dubbed Operation Midnight Hammer,

06:18reportedly set back Tehran's nuclear program by years

06:21and served as the United States' first operational use

06:24of its 30,000-pound bunker-buster munitions.

06:28Trump's interventionist policies

06:30and promises of retaliation in Iran

06:32haven't gone unnoticed in Congress,

06:35as South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham

06:37praised the president's actions on Fox News.

06:39Unlike Obama,

06:42President Trump has not turned his back

06:44on the people of Iran.

06:45So I pray and hope that 2026 will be

06:49the year that we make Iran great again.

Mass protests in Iran take a deadly turn — Will Trump respond?

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