“Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!!” President Donald Trump wrote Saturday as he escalated his public backing of Iran’s protesters — and sharpened warnings to the regime in Tehran.
Trump posted repeatedly on Truth Social throughout the day, including a post this evening highlighting demonstrators in London who scaled Iran’s embassy, tore down the Islamic Republic’s flag, and hoisted the country’s pre-1979 symbol instead.
The scene unfolded at Iran’s embassy near Hyde Park, where a protester climbed onto a balcony and replaced the regime’s flag with Iran’s pre-Islamic Revolution lion-and-sun emblem as hundreds of demonstrators below cheered and chanted for “Democracy for Iran” and “Free Iran.”
The flag — used during the rule of the shah before the 1979 Islamic revolution — remained aloft for several minutes before being removed, as London police said additional officers were deployed and multiple arrests were made for aggravated trespass.
Hours earlier, Trump declared that Iran is “looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before,” adding that the United States “stands ready to help.”
Before that, Trump reposted a message from Sen. Lindsey Graham, who was responding to Secretary of State Marco Rubio after Rubio stated, “The United States supports the brave people of Iran.”
In the post Trump shared, Graham said this is “truly not the Obama administration” when it comes to confronting “the Iranian ayatollah and his religious Nazi henchmen,” while standing behind Iranians “protesting for a better life.”
“To the regime leadership: your brutality against the great people of Iran will not go unchallenged,” Graham wrote, adding: “Make Iran Great Again.”
The president’s online drumbeat comes as nationwide protests that erupted December 28 have continued to expand, even as the regime imposed a sweeping internet blackout that began Thursday night and remained in effect through Saturday night and into Sunday in Tehran — a move widely seen as an attempt to suppress coordination and conceal the scope of the crackdown.
Trump’s warnings have been building for days. Speaking at the White House on January 9, he said the United States would act if the regime began killing protesters — while stressing any response would not involve a ground invasion.
“I’ve made the statement very strongly that if they start killing people like they have in the past, we will get involved,” Trump said. “That doesn’t mean boots on the ground, but it means hitting them very, very hard where it hurts.”
In a January 2 Truth Social post, Trump warned that if Iran “shoots and violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom,” the United States would “come to their rescue,” adding that American forces were “locked and loaded and ready to go.”
He reiterated that posture on January 8, saying the U.S. was “ready” to strike Iran hard if protesters were killed — though he noted that, “for the most part, they haven’t” been.
The escalation also comes as administration officials have held preliminary discussions about potential U.S. military options should Tehran intensify its crackdown, including the possibility of a large-scale aerial strike targeting Iranian military assets, according to a Wall Street Journal report published Saturday.
Officials stressed the discussions were part of routine contingency planning and that no decision had been made — nor were any U.S. forces being positioned — but the deliberations underscored the seriousness of Trump’s repeated warnings.
Iran’s leadership has tried to frame the uprising as foreign-driven sabotage, with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei lashing out at Trump in remarks Friday, even as demonstrations spread and communications were cut.
Inside Iran, protesters have openly appealed for U.S. protection in viral messages — including pleas urging Trump not to let the regime kill them — as rights groups and opposition-linked sources report rising casualties and mass arrests.
By Saturday night, Trump’s rapid-fire posts fused into a clear signal: the U.S. president is publicly aligning his administration with Iran’s protesters — and warning Tehran that Washington is watching closely.
Joshua Klein is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @JoshuaKlein.
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