by WorldTribune Staff, January 2, 2026 Real World News

As thousands of Iranians pour into the streets in nationwide protests, the regime of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is deploying more security forces to brutally crack down on the demonstrations, reports say.

The Human Rights Activists News Agency, which follows Iran closely, said on Thursday that 119 Iranians had been arrested, seven killed, and at least 33 injured. It said protests had occurred in at least 32 cities across Iran.

President Donald Trump warned that if Iran “violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue. We are locked and loaded and ready to go.”

Related: With Netanyahu meeting, Trump plays Soleimani card; Protests erupt in Iran, December 30, 2025

Meanwhile, a Dec. 30 report by Geostrategy-Direct.com noted that, as Iran fights internal enemies amid the massive nationwide protests, it has once again been put on the defensive from the external force that is Trump, who again pulled out the Qassem Soleimani card on the Iranian regime.

Following a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump directly signaled support for Israel’s concerns regarding Iran’s missile and nuclear programs.

During his first term in 2020, Trump ordered the drone strike in Iraq which killed Soleimani, the Iranian IRGC Quds Force leader.

Iran’s state media on Dec. 30 featured many articles about Soleimani on the sixth anniversary of his “martyrdom.”

Khamenei adviser Ali Larijani stated: “Trump should know that U.S. interference in this internal matter would mean destabilizing the entire region and destroying America’s interests.”

By Friday, the Center for Human Rights in Iran reported it had tallied six killings, according to spokeswoman Bahar Ghandehari, while the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran said in an email Friday that it had documented the killings of eight people during the protests thus far.

Arina Moradi, a spokeswoman for the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights,said that 10 people have been killed so far, including a 15-year-old. Those reported killed were all men, mostly in their 20s and 30s.

Iranian officials claim at least one of the dead and many among the injured are security forces. The slain officer was said to be a member of the Basij – a paramilitary force linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC). In several locales Basij members have been observed supporting local police forces, as is typical whenever major anti-government protests flare up.

Speaker of Iran’s Parliament Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf has said that “all American centers and forces across the entire region would be legitimate targets” in response to any potential U.S. “adventurism.”

The leader of Iran’s largest anti-regime opposition group came out support of the growing group of primarily 20-something insurgents protesting the regime, John Gizzi reported for Newsmax.

“The four-day uprising by merchants, students, and other sectors of society signals the Iranian people’s determination to be free from religious tyranny,” Maryam Rajavi, president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, said Thursday.

In a statement to Newsmax via email from her Paris headquarters, Rajavi went on to predict that what she called “this wretched regime” of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, “is doomed to be overthrown by the risen populace and rebellious youth.”

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  Trump has their backs as protesters hit streets in Iran; Plays Soleimani card with regime, WorldTribune.com