US President Donald Trump warned that the United States is prepared to “take very strong action" if Iran begins hanging anti-government protesters.
The comments were made during an interview with CBS News anchor Tony Dokoupil, set to air Tuesday night.
“We will take very strong action. If they do such a thing, we will take very strong action," Trump stated.
The President noted he is aware a “pretty substantial number" of demonstrators have already been killed during more than two weeks of unrest. According to CBS News sources, at least 12,000 - and possibly as many as 20,000 - are feared dead.
Trump repeated that “there’s a lot of help on the way" for the Iranian people, saying assistance is being offered in “different forms," including economic support. He referenced last year’s US airstrikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities but did not provide additional details.
Asked about his end goal in Iran, the President responded: “The end game is to win. I like winning."
Pressed on what “winning" means, he listed several major operations from his first and second terms: the recent capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, the 2019 raid in Syria that killed ISIS founder Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and the 2020 elimination of Qassem Soleimani, commander of Iran’s Quds Force.
“We don’t want to see what’s happening in Iran happen," he added. “And you know, if they want to have protests, that's one thing, when they start killing thousands of people, and now you're telling me about hanging - we'll see how that works out for them. It's not going to work out good."
Speaking to reporters later, following his visit to Detroit, Trump said, "I'm going back to the White House now, we're going to look at the whole situation that's going on in Iran... We'll get some accurate numbers as to what's happening with regard to the killing."
In a social media post earlier on Tuesday, Trump warned Iranian officials they will “pay a big price" for further violence and assured Iranian citizens that “HELP IS ON ITS WAY." He added that all meetings with Iranian officials would be canceled until the killings stop.
An Iranian official told Reuters on Tuesday that about 2,000 people, including members of the security forces, were killed during roughly two weeks of protests across Iran.
The official said those responsible were “terrorists" and stated that both protesters and security personnel were among the dead, without providing a detailed breakdown of the casualties.
On Monday night, two Defense Department officials who spoke to CBS News stated that Trump has been briefed on a broad set of military and covert capabilities that could be used against Iran, extending far beyond conventional airstrikes.
Several sources familiar with the matter said the President’s national security team will meet at the White House today to review updated Iran options. It remains unclear whether the President will attend the meeting.