US President Donald Trump on Tuesday urged Iranians to keep protesting and remember the names of those abusing them, saying help is on the way, as Iran’s clerical establishment pressed its crackdown against the biggest demonstrations in years.
Iran in turn accused Trump of encouraging political destabilisation and inciting violence.
“Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING - TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!!… HELP IS ON ITS WAY,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social, without saying what that help might be.
He said he had cancelled all meetings with Iranian officials until the “senseless killing“ of protesters stopped and in a later speech told Iranians to “save the name of the killers and the abusers … because they’ll pay a very big price.”
An Iranian official said about 2,000 people had been killed, the first time authorities have given an overall death toll from more than two weeks of nationwide unrest.
US-based rights group HRANA said that of the 2,003 people whose deaths it had confirmed, 1,850 were protesters.
It said 16,784 people had been detained, a sharp increase from the figure it gave on Monday.
Asked what he meant by “help is on its way”, Trump told reporters they would have to figure that out.
Trump has said military action is among the options he is weighing to punish Iran over the crackdown.
“The killing looks like it’s significant, but we don’t know yet for certain,” said Trump upon returning to the Washington area from Detroit, adding he would know more after receiving a report on Tuesday evening about the Iran protests.
“We’ll act accordingly,” he said.
The US State Department on Tuesday urged American citizens to leave Iran now, including by land through Turkey or Armenia.
Iranian authorities previously accused the US and Israel of fomenting the unrest.
In response to Trump’s social media post that “help is on the way,” Iran’s UN Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani said the US president was inciting violence, threatening the country’s sovereignty and security and seeking to destabilise the government.
“The United States and the Israeli regime bear direct and undeniable legal responsibility for the resulting loss of innocent civilian lives, particularly among the youth,” he wrote in a letter to the UN Security Council on Tuesday.
Russia on Tuesday condemned “subversive external interference” in Iran’s internal politics, saying any repeat of last year’s US strikes would have “disastrous consequences” for the Middle East and international security.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Monday he had continued to communicate with US special envoy Steve Witkoff and that Tehran was studying ideas proposed by Washington.
In an interview with CBS News on Tuesday, Trump vowed “very strong action” if Iran started hanging protesters, but again did not elaborate.
“If they hang them, you’re going to see some things,” Trump said.
Hengaw, an Iranian Kurdish rights group, has reported that a 26-year-old man, Erfan Soltani, arrested in connection with protests in the city of Karaj, will be executed on Wednesday.
Authorities had told the family that the death sentence was final, Hengaw reported, citing a source close to the family.
Reuters could not independently confirm the report and state media has not reported any death sentences so far.
Communications restrictions, including an internet blackout have hampered the flow of information in Iran.
The UN said phone service had been restored but the internet still faced restrictions.
Holistic Resilience, a US organisation that works to expand information access in repressive or closed societies, said on Tuesday that billionaire Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet service was now available for free in Iran.
The unrest, sparked by dire economic conditions, has posed the biggest internal challenge to Iran’s rulers for at least three years and has come at a time of intensifying international pressure after Israeli and US strikes last year.
The US president on Monday announced 25% import tariffs on products from any country doing business with Iran — a major oil exporter. China, which buys much of Iran’s oil exports, swiftly criticised the move.
The protests began on December 28 over the fall in value of the currency and have grown into wider demonstrations and calls for the fall of the clerical establishment.
Iran’s authorities have taken a dual approach, cracking down while also calling protests over economic problems legitimate.
So far there are no signs of fracture in the security elite that could bring down the clerical system in power since the 1979 Revolution.
Britain, France, Germany and Italy all summoned Iranian ambassadors in protest over the crackdown.
“The rising number of casualties in Iran is horrifying,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen posted on X.
Underscoring international uncertainty over what comes next in Iran, which has been one of the dominant powers across the Middle East for decades, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he believed the government would fall.
“I assume that we are now witnessing the final days and weeks of this regime,” he said, adding that if it had to maintain power through violence, “it is effectively at its end”.
