'US supports brave people...': Rubio on Iran protests - Will America intervene?

Amis intensifying protest in Iran and demands for fall of Ayatollah Khamenei-led regime, the United States has spoken in support of the movement. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that America supports the “brave people of Iran." This comes after Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, who is the exiled eldest son of the last Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Shah, asked the Trump administration for help to overthrow what he called a “terror regime.”

Trump warns Iran

Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump said that it looked like the Iranian leaders were “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 said adding that if Iranian military shoots the protesters, then America will shoot them too. “You better not start shooting because we'll start shooting too.”

Khamenei warns Trump

Khamenei on Friday (Jan 9) called the demonstrators "vandals" and “saboteurs.” Hinting at America's involvement in igniting the protest, he claimed that "Trump's hands are stained with the blood of more than a thousand Iranians", in a reference to Israel's June war against the Islamic republic, which the US supported and joined with strikes of its own. He predicted the "arrogant" US leader would be "overthrown" like the imperial dynasty that ruled Iran up to the 1979 revolution.

Iran protest: What's happening now

Protests have taken place across Iran for 13 days now. The protest was triggered after the Iranian rial hit a record low of approximately 1.45 million to 1 USD in December 2025, losing nearly half its value since the start of the year. Soon after, inflation hit all time high with food prices surging by 72 per cent and medical goods by 50 per cent. It was also triggered by anger over the rising cost of living and a 2026 budget proposed 62 per cent tax increase. Shopkeepers and traders were the first group who took to streets