Iran warns US bases will become 'legitimate targets' after Trump said he was ready to intervene amid unrest
The unrest comes after six people were reportedly killed as protesters and security forces clashed across Iran
Iran has warned the US that all of its bases and forces in the region will become "legitimate targets" if it intervenes in internal protests.
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It comes after Donald Trump said Washington was "locked and loaded and ready to go" if anyone was killed as widening economic protests swept across parts of the Islamic Republic.
However, Iran hit back and accused foreign interference of attempting to hijack legitimate protests and turn them into violent unrest.
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, wrote on X: "The devil's cry was raised because the efforts of armed field agents of the intelligence services to turn the legitimate protests of the bazaars and guilds into violent and armed urban battles failed."
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He went on to label President Trump as "disrespectful" and said: "Iranians have always been united and determined to act in the face of an aggressor enemy."
Mr Ghalibaf added that "all American centers and forces across the entire region will be legitimate targets for us in response to any potential adventurism; Iranians have always been united and determined to act in the face of an aggressor enemy."
Mr Trump previously threatened action if Iran kills protesters as six people reportedly died during cost-of-living demonstrations in the country.
Shopkeepers in the capital Tehran went on strike on Sunday over high prices and economic stagnation and the action has spread to other parts of the country.
فریاد شیطان بلند شد چرا که تلاش عوامل میدانی مسلح سرویسهای جاسوسی برای تبدیل اعتراضات بحق بازاریان و اصناف و تبدیل آن به نبردهای شهری خشن و مسلح با آگاهی تاریخی ملت ایران با شکست روبرو شد.
— محمدباقر قالیباف (@mb_ghalibaf) January 2, 2026
ملت ایران در طول تاریخ دشمنانی به مراتب کارکشتهتر از اینها را نا امید کردهاند؛ هرگز صف…
Mr Trump said on Truth Social that "If Iran [shoots] and violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue.
"We are locked and loaded and ready to go."
Shortly after, Ali Larijani, a former parliament speaker and secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, wrote on X: "Trump should know that intervention by the U.S. in the domestic problem corresponds (to) chaos in the entire region and the destruction of the U.S. interests," Mr Larijani wrote on X, which the Iranian government blocks.
"The people of the U.S. should know that Trump began the adventurism. They should take care of their own soldiers."