‘We are locked and loaded’: Trump threatens to attack Iran regime if protesters harmed

Author: Published: January 2, 2026

‘The United States of America will come to their rescue,’ President Donald Trump announced about the protestors on Truth Social.

An Iranian woman shops at a vendor on a sidewalk near the traditional Tajrish Bazaar in northern Tehran, Iran, on December 31, 2025.
An Iranian woman shops at a vendor on a sidewalk near the traditional Tajrish Bazaar in northern Tehran, Iran, on December 31, 2025.
(photo credit: Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
ByJERUSALEM POST STAFF
Updated: 
US President Donald Trump declared that the United States was “locked and loaded and ready to go” if Iran killed any more protestors, in a post on Truth Social early Friday morning.

Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi also continued to encourage the Iranian people on day six of the protests in a post on Twitter/X.

“You are making history; a history written with the courage, solidarity, and determination of a nation to reclaim its country,” Pahlavi said in his post. “Stay united. Stay focused on the goal. Victory is ours.”

Thursday saw confirmation of several deaths occurring during the protests, including two people killed in the Lordegan after authorities opened fire on the crowds demonstrating.

The Hengaw human rights group also reported that authorities killed protester Dariush Ansari Bakhtiariwand with live fire during a protest in Isfahan province on Wednesday night.

Protestors taken by Iranian authorities

An unknown number of people were also taken by authorities, reports indicate, including at least seven people detained after they rallied in Kermanshah.

Since the Israel-Iran war in June, Iran has been accused of silencing dissent by carrying out executions against those it accuses of foreign collusion, manufacturing evidence, and using torture to collect confessions from victims.

Watch: Iran protesters torch Qassem Soleimani statue

Author: Published: January 2, 2026

Protesters in Iran burn a Qassem Soleimani statue, one day before the anniversary of his death, as nationwide unrest escalates.

Elad Benari

Published: 

Protesters in Iran on Thursday set fire to a statue of former Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani, footage obtained by Iran International shows.

The website reported that the incident took place in the city of Lali in Khuzestan, located in southwestern Iran.

It comes on the eve of the anniversary of the elimination of Soleimani in a US drone attack in Iraq, on January 3, 2020.

Earlier on Thursday, Iranian media reported that the ongoing clashes and riots in Iran, which started as part of a broader wave of protests in the country, have claimed the lives of five individuals in the past 24 hours.

According to the reports, the five protesters were killed in confrontations with the police in Lorestan province in the western part of the country.

Iran’s President, Masoud Pezeshkian, addressed the protests, stating that the government should guide the nation to provide assistance to all citizens, emphasizing that “the livelihood of the people is a red line.” He added, “There is no problem that cannot be solved.”

On Wednesday evening, demonstrators in Iran set the IRGC headquarters in Hamedan on fire.

The Mehr news agency reported that a Basij fighter from the Revolutionary Guards was killed and 13 Basij fighters and police officers were injured in clashes in Hamedan.

On Tuesday, US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz expressed support for the protests against the Iranian regime.

“The people of Iran want freedom. They have suffered at the hands of the Ayatollahs for too long,” Waltz wrote on social media.

“We stand with Iranians in the streets of Tehran and across the country as they protest a radical regime that has brought them nothing but economic downturn and war,” he added.

NYC mayor reverses antisemitism order defining anti-Zionism as hate

Author: Published: January 2, 2026

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani revoked an executive order adopting the IHRA definition of antisemitism, including provisions linking some anti-Zionist rhetoric to antisemitism.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani pictured during his first day in office, January 1, 2026.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani pictured during his first day in office, January 1, 2026.
(photo credit: Dave Sanders/Pool via REUTERS)
ByJAMES GENN, IDAN KWELLER
Updated: 
Newly inaugurated New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani rescinded a series of executive orders on his first day in office on Thursday, including one that deemed anti-Zionist rhetoric as antisemitic.

His predecessor, Eric Adams, signed the order adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance‘s definition of antisemitism, which includes clauses in its definition such as “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor,” and “Accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations.”

Other clauses include “Accusing the Jews as a people, or Israel as a state, of inventing or exaggerating the Holocaust,” “Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis,” or “Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel.”

Mamdani, then a state assemblyman nominated as the Democratic Party candidate, pledged in a September interview with Bloomberg News that he would rescind the acceptance of the IHRA definition of antisemitism if elected.

Zohran Mamdani is sworn in as mayor of New York City, flanked by his wife Rama Duwaji and New York Attorney General Letitia James, at Old City Hall Station, New York, US, Thursday, Jan 1st 2026. (credit: Amir Hamja/Pool via REUTERS)
Zohran Mamdani is sworn in as mayor of New York City, flanked by his wife Rama Duwaji and New York Attorney General Letitia James, at Old City Hall Station, New York, US, Thursday, Jan 1st 2026. (credit: Amir Hamja/Pool via REUTERS)

During the public swearing-in ceremony on the steps of City Hall, Mamdani vowed to enact an aggressive agenda aimed at making the nation’s largest city more affordable for working people.

Mamdani’s journey to becoming mayor has not been without controversy, most notably because of his strongly anti-Israel, pro-Palestine stance and rhetoric – something that the Jewish community fears may manifest in increased antisemitism on the ground.

Two-thirds of NYC’s Jews did not vote for Mamdani, and many have expressed explicit concern about the new mayor’s actions. A November edition of JPPI’s Voice of the Jewish People Index showed that 67% of US Jews believe Mamdani’s victory will endanger New York’s Jews.

Additionally, a December ADL report found that 20% of Mamdani’s administrative appointees have ties to anti-Zionist groups. Some have even justified Hamas’s actions or celebrated the October 7 attacks. Many are members of Students for Justice in Palestine and Democratic Socialists of America, groups which Mamdani himself has long served as an organizer for.

Mamdani has accused Israel of “genocide” and “apartheid” and has promised to arrest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should he set foot in New York.

Herzog criticises Mamdani’s rhetoric as harmful to New York’s Jewish community

President Isaac Herzog sharply criticized New York City’s then-mayor-elect, Zohran Mamdani, in December, for comments he described as “outrageous” and harmful to Jewish communities during a speech at Yeshiva University in New York City.

Herzog said the mayor-elect’s remarks questioning Jews’ right to move to Israel and participate in traditional Zionist practices not only delegitimize the Jewish people’s ancient homeland but also “legitimize violence and undermine freedom of religion.” He labeled such rhetoric both anti-Jewish and anti-American.

Mathilda Heller, Pesach Benson/TPS, and Reuters contributed to this report.

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