From the Liveblog of
Friday, January 9, 2026
Trump says US will strike Iran if regime kills protesters
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleJacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
US President Donald Trump says that Washington will strike Iran if the Islamic Republic kills people protesting against the regime.
He has made variations of this threat several times since the protests started 13 days ago.
“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 tells 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 continues.
“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 says.
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