US President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media prior to his departure from the White House in Washington, DC. (January 9, 2026).
Trump says US “ready to help” as protests in Iran continue
Note: AI technology was used to generate this article’s audio.
President Donald Trump said Saturday that the United States is "ready to help" as protesters in Iran –according to NGOs– faced a crackdown by authorities.
"Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!!" Trump said in a social post on Truth Social, without elaborating.
His comments come a day after he said that Iran was in "big trouble" and again warned that he could order military strikes.
Iran protests
Iran faced another night of mass protests in the biggest demonstrations to face the country in years.
The two weeks of demonstrations have posed one of the biggest challenges to the authorities who have ruled Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution, although supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has expressed defiance and blamed the United States.
Following the movement's largest protests yet on Thursday, new demonstrations took place late Friday, according to videos published on social media.
This was despite an internet shutdown imposed by the authorities, with monitor Netblocks saying Saturday evening that "Iran has now been offline for 48 hours".
Other images disseminated on social media and by Persian-language television channels outside Iran showed similarly large protests elsewhere in the capital, as well as in the eastern city of Mashhad, Tabriz in the north and the holy city of Qom.
Reza Pahlavi, the US-based son of Iran's ousted shah, hailed the "magnificent" turnout on Friday and urged Iranians to stage more targeted protests on Saturday and Sunday.
"Our goal is no longer just to take to the streets. The goal is to prepare to seize and hold city centres," Pahlavi said in a video message on social media.
Pahlavi, whose father Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was ousted by the 1979 revolution and died in 1980, added he was also "preparing to return to my homeland" at a time that he believed was "very near".
State TV on Saturday broadcast images of funerals for several members of the security forces killed in the protests, including a large gathering in the southern city of Shiraz.
It also aired images of buildings, including a mosque, on fire.
Iran's army said in a statement that it would "vigorously protect and safeguard national interests" against an "enemy seeking to disrupt order and peace".
National security council chief Ali Larijani said in comments broadcast late Friday that "we are in the middle of a war", with "these incidents being directed from outside".
