Trump: 'Something pretty incredible happening in Iran'

Trump says Iran in ‘big trouble,’ US will ‘get involved’ if regime kills protesters

US president says ‘that doesn’t mean boots on the ground’; Macron, Starmer and Merz issue joint statement condemning killing of demonstrators, urge Tehran to exercise ‘restraint’

US President Donald Trump said Friday that Washington will “hit Iran very, very hard where it hurts” if the Islamic Republic kills people protesting against the regime.

Trump has made variations of this threat several times since the protests started 13 days ago — at least 51 protesters have been killed since the start of the demonstrations, according to the Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights group.

“Iran is in big trouble. It looks to me that the people are taking over certain cities that nobody thought were really possible just a few weeks ago,” Trump told reporters in the White House when asked about the protests. “We’re watching the situation very carefully.”

“I’ve made the statement very strongly that if they start killing people like they have in the past, we will get involved… That doesn’t mean boots on the ground, but it means hitting them very, very hard where it hurts. We don’t want that to happen,” he continued.

“This is something pretty incredible that’s happening in Iran… They’ve done a bad job. They’ve treated their people very badly, and now they’re being paid back,” Trump said.

Meanwhile, the leaders of France, the United Kingdom and Germany on Friday condemned the killing of protestors in Iran, urging Tehran to “exercise restraint.”

“We are deeply concerned about reports of violence by Iranian security forces, and strongly condemn the killing of protestors,” French President Emmanuel Macron, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said in a joint statement.

“We urge the Iranian authorities to exercise restraint,” they added.

The demonstrations are now marked by calls for the end of the Islamist clerical system that has ruled Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution that ousted the pro-Western shah.

Despite Iran’s theocracy cutting off the nation from the internet and international telephone calls, short online videos shared by activists purported to show thousands of protesters nationwide on Friday, the 13th day of the protests.

Iranian state media alleged “terrorist agents” of the US and Israel set fires and sparked violence. It also said there were “casualties,” without elaborating.

The full scope of the demonstrations that began Dec. 28 cannot be fully determined due to the Iranian regime’s shutdown of the internet and international phone calls.