UNITED States President Donald Trump says he has cancelled all meetings with Iranian officials and has told protesters to “take over your institutions” amid Tehran’s crackdown.
In a social media post on Tuesday, Trump said that “help is on the way” without offering further details. Trump has openly contemplated ordering military attacks on Iran over the last several days.
“Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING – TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!! Save the names of the killers and abusers. They will pay a big price,” Trump said on his website, Truth Social.
“I have cancelled all meetings with Iranian Officials until the senseless killing of protesters STOPS. HELP IS ON ITS WAY. MIGA!!! [MAGA]”
Trump has threatened Iran with military strikes in the past as a means of pressuring Tehran into greater alignment with US demands, and has said during the last week that a harsh response by Iranian authorities to the country’s protesters could result in US attacks.
The US president announced on Monday that any country doing business with Iran would be subject to a 25 percent tariff. On Tuesday, the State Department issued an alert saying US citizens should “leave Iran now” amid the rising tensions.
Asked by reporters on Tuesday what he meant when he said “help is on the way”, Trump declined to share specifics.
“You’re going to have to figure that one out. I’m sorry,” he said.
In a subsequent interview with CBS News, Trump again said that if Iran’s government executed protesters the US would take “very strong actions”. He added he has not yet received “accurate numbers” on how many people have been killed.
Analysts have warned that US strikes, which would likely violate international law, could have unforeseen consequences in Iran, currently facing the largest protest movement in years.
“The Iranian people are caught between a repressive regime and foreign aggression,” Ali Vaez, director of the Iran Project at the International Crisis Group, told Al Jazeera in a TV interview.
“If the president decides to do political decapitation in Iran, what comes after? There’s no organised, viable opposition inside Iran that can take over immediately. So the more likely scenario is that more repressive elements within the Revolutionary Guard will take over,” he said.
“If he [Trump] creates a total vacuum at the top of the Iranian system, then the country might descend into violent chaos and civil strife in the way that we saw in Libya, or in Syria, or in Yemen, or in Iraq,” Vaez added.
Human rights groups based outside Iran have said hundreds of people have been killed during the protests, while state media said more than 100 security personnel have been killed.
Al Jazeera cannot independently verify the figures. An internet blackout in Iran has restricted the flow of information for five days.
Iranian officials, meanwhile, have repeatedly accused the US of fomenting unrest.
Most recently, Iran’s top military commander, Abdolrahim Mousavi, said US and Israel had deployed members of the armed group ISIL (ISIS) inside the country to carry out attacks, without providing evidence.