TRUMP TO IRANIANS: “Help is On The Way, Keep Protesting — Take Over Your Institutions!”

President Donald Trump issued his most explicit call yet for regime change in Iran, urging protesters to seize government buildings and take control of state institutions as unrest intensifies and thousands are feared dead.

In a Truth Social post, Trump told “Iranian Patriots” to “KEEP PROTESTING – TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!!” and warned regime enforcers to remember that “they will pay a big price.” He announced the immediate cancellation of all meetings with Iranian officials until the killings stop and promised protesters that “HELP IS ON ITS WAY.”

Trump also escalated economic pressure, declaring a 25% tariff on any country that continues doing business with Iran, effectively imposing a new global embargo aimed at collapsing the regime’s financial lifelines.

Behind the scenes, senior aides—including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance—are preparing response options, including potential military action, as protests spread and the Islamic Republic faces its most serious challenge in decades.

The message from Trump was unmistakable: the regime’s time is running out, and the United States is preparing to act.

“Effective immediately, any Country doing business with the Islamic Republic of Iran will pay a Tariff of 25% on any and all business being done with the United States of America. This Order is final and conclusive….” – PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP

Trump urges Iranians to keep protesting, says ‘help is on its way’

By Elwely Elwelly, Reuters, January 13, 2026:

Trump urges protests to ‘take over’ institutions

Official blames what authorities call terrorists for deaths

Trump announces tariffs for countries doing business with Iran

DUBAI, Jan 13 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump urged Iranians on Tuesday to keep protesting and said help was on the way, without giving details, as Iran’s clerical establishment pressed its crackdown against the biggest demonstrations in years.

“Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING – TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!!… HELP IS ON ITS WAY,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social, adding he had canceled all meetings with Iranian officials until the “senseless killing” of protesters stopped.

The unrest, sparked by dire economic conditions, has posed the biggest internal challenge to Iran’s clerical rulers for at least three years and has come at a time of intensifying international pressure after Israeli and U.S. strikes last year.
An Iranian official said earlier on Tuesday that about 2,000 people had been killed in the protests, the first time authorities have acknowledged the high death toll from an intense crackdown on two weeks of nationwide unrest.

The Iranian official, speaking to Reuters, said that people he called terrorists were behind the deaths of both protesters and security personnel. The official, who declined to be named, did not give a breakdown of who had been killed.

On Monday evening, Trump announced 25% import tariffs on products from any country doing business with Iran – a major oil exporter. Trump has also said more military action is among options he is weighing to punish Iran over the crackdown, saying earlier this month “we are locked and loaded”.

Tehran has not yet responded publicly to Trump’s announcement of the tariffs, but it was swiftly criticized by China. Iran, already under heavy U.S. sanctions, exports much of its oil to China, with Turkey, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates and India among its other top trading partners.

RUSSIA CONDEMNS ‘SUBVERSIVE EXTERNAL INTERFERENCE’

Russia condemned what it described as “subversive external interference” in Iran’s internal politics, saying on Tuesday that U.S. threats of new military strikes against the country were “categorically unacceptable.”

“Those who plan to use externally inspired unrest as a pretext for repeating the aggression against Iran committed in June 2025 must be aware of the disastrous consequences of such actions for the situation in the Middle East and global international security,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

However, underscoring the international uncertainty over what comes next in Iran, which has been one of the dominant powers across the Middle East for decades, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he believed the government would fall.”I assume that we are now witnessing the final days and weeks of this regime,” he said, adding that if it had to maintain power through violence, “it is effectively at its end”.

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