DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump and top Iranian officials exchanged threats Friday as growing economic protests spread through parts of the Islamic Republic, further raising tension between Washington and Tehran since the Pentagon bombed Iran's nuclear facilities in June.

At least seven people have died so far in the violence surrounding the protests, sparked in part by the collapse of the rial, the Iranian currency, and in which more and more crowds chant anti-government slogans.

The current protests, which have entered their sixth day, are the largest since 2022, when the death of Mahsa Amini, 22, who died while being detained by the police, triggered nationwide mobilizations. But these demonstrations have not yet spread throughout the country nor have they been as intense as those that surrounded the death of Amini, arrested for not wearing her hijab, the traditional Islamic headscarf, to the liking of the authorities.

Trump's post prompts prompt Iranian response

Trump first wrote a message on his Truth Social platform in which he warned Iran that if it “violently kills peaceful protesters,” the United States will “come to its rescue.”

“We are ready and prepared to act,” Trump wrote, without giving further details.

Shortly after, Ali Larijani, former speaker of Parliament who serves as secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, He asserted on social network X that Israel and the United States were fueling the protests. He offered no evidence to support an accusation repeated by Iranian authorities during the years of protests that shook the country.

“Trump should know that US intervention in the internal problem translates into chaos throughout the region and the destruction of US interests,” Larijani wrote on X, a platform blocked by the Iranian government. "The American people should know that Trump started interventionism. They should take care of their own soldiers."

Larijani's statements could refer to Washington's extensive military presence in the region. Iran attacked the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar in June after the US operation against three nuclear facilities during Israel's 12-day war against the Islamic Republic. No one was injured, although a missile hit a radome at the site.

Ali Shamkhani, an adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who served as secretary of the Council for years, warned that “any interventionist hand that comes too close to Iran's security will be cut off.”

“The people of Iran know well the experience of ‘being rescued’ by the Americans: from Iraq and Afghanistan to Gaza,” he added in X.

El presidente del parlamento iraní, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, también amenazó con que todas las bases y fuerzas estadounidenses serían “objetivos legítimos”.

El portavoz del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Irán, Esmail Baghaei, también respondió, citando una lista de quejas de larga data de Teherán contra Estados Unidos, entre ellas, un golpe respaldado por la CIA en 1953, el derribo de un avión de pasajeros en 1988 y la participación en la June war.

The Iranian response came as the protests cast doubt on what has been a common refrain from theocracy officials: that the country was largely supportive of its government after the war.

Trump's message was a direct signal of support for the protesters, something other US presidents have avoided for fear that activists would be accused of working with the West. During Iran's Green Movement demonstrations in 2009, President Barack Obama refrained from publicly supporting the protests, something he declared in 2022 “was a mistake.”

But such support from the White House still carries a risk.

“Although the grievances fueling these and other previous protests are due to the Iranian government's own policies, they are likely to use President Trump's statement as evidence that the unrest is fueled by external actors,” Naysan said. Rafati, an analyst with the International Crisis Group.

“But using that as a justification for more violent repression risks provoking the same US involvement that Trump has hinted at,” he added.

Protests continued on Friday

Protesters took to the streets on Friday in Zahedan, in the restive Iranian province of Sistan and Balochistan, on the border with Pakistan. Burials also took place for several protesters killed in the protests, sparking marches.

An online video allegedly shows mourners chasing away members of the security forces who attended the funeral of 21-year-old Amirhessam Khodayari. He was killed on Wednesday in Kouhdasht, more than 400 kilometers southwest of Tehran, in Iran's Lorestan province.

The video also shows Khodayari's father denying that his son served in the Iranian paramilitary group Revolutionary Guard's Basij force, which was made up entirely of volunteers, as authorities claimed. The semi-official Fars news agency later reported that there were doubts about government claims that Khodayari was part of such a force.

Iran's civilian government, under reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian, has sought to signal its intention to negotiate with protesters. But the president has acknowledged that he cannot do much since the rial has depreciated rapidly and a dollar now costs around 1.4 million rials. This was the seed of the first mobilizations.

In the protests, which have their origin in economic issues, slogans against the Iranian theocracy have been included. Tehran has had little luck shoring up its economy in the months since the June war.

Months after the conflict, Iran said it was no longer enriching uranium at any plants in the country, in an attempt to signal to the West that it remains open to possible negotiations over its atomic program in exchange for sanctions relief. But these talks have not happened yet, as Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have warned Tehran not to rebuild its atomic program.

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This story was translated from English by an AP editor with the help of a generative artificial intelligence tool.