Iran is looking at freedom, USA stands ready to help, says Donald Trump
Iran has been cut off from the rest of the world for more than two days, due to a communication blackout, a tool the Iranian regime has used in the past to crack down on popular uprisings.
Protesters participate in a demonstration in Berlin, Germany, in support of the nationwide mass protests in Iran against the government, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
President Donald Trump on Saturday reiterated the US support for the protesters in Iran. Trump, in a post on Truth Social said, the US stands ready to help Iran achieve freedom.
Internet suspended across Iran
Trump’s comments come as the protests sweeping across Iran neared the two-week mark Saturday, even as the country’s government unleashed a brutal crackdown.
Ali Rahmani, the son of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, who is imprisoned in Iran, noted that security forces killed hundreds in a 2019 protest, “so we can only fear the worst.”
With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. But the death toll in the protests has grown to at least 72 people killed and over 2,300 others detained, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency.
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In this frame grab a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran’s Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January. 9, 2026. (Photo: AP)
Ali Khamenei warns protesters
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has signalled a coming clampdown, despite US warnings. Tehran escalated its threats Saturday, with Iran’s attorney general, Mohammad Movahedi Azad, warning that anyone taking part in protests will be considered an “enemy of God,” a death penalty charge.
The statement carried by Iranian state television said even those who “helped rioters” would face the charge.
“Prosecutors must carefully and without delay, by issuing indictments, prepare the grounds for the trial and decisive confrontation with those who, by betraying the nation and creating insecurity, seek foreign domination over the country,” the statement read.
“Proceedings must be conducted without leniency, compassion, or indulgence.”
Iran’s exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, who called for protests Thursday and Friday, asked in his latest message for demonstrators to take to the streets Saturday and Sunday.
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He urged protesters to carry Iran’s old lion-and-sun flag and other national symbols used during the time of the shah to “claim public spaces as your own.”
Though internat has been suspended across Iran for more than 48 hours, there are some reports that Elon Musk-owned SpaceX has activated Starlink satellite internet in the country.
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Protesters participate in a demonstration in Berlin, Germany, in support of the nationwide mass protests in Iran against the government, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi) 
