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3. Iran Warns of Retaliation as President Orders Restraint on Protesters

Iran's military chief warned on Wednesday that Iran will not stand by and allow itself to be threatened by outside powers, after the United States and Israel backed anti-government protests in which at least 35 protesters have reportedly been killed.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran considers the escalation of hostile rhetoric against the Iranian nation a threat and will not tolerate its continuation without responding," General Amir Hatami said, according to the Fars news agency.

Hatami, commander of the Iranian army but not Iran's most senior officer, warned that "if the enemy makes a mistake" Iran's response would be more robust than during last June's 12-day war with Israel.

In recent days, US President Donald Trump has threatened to intervene in Iran if demonstrators were killed, while Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu has expressed support for the protests.

‘Distinguish Protesters from Rioters,’ Says Pezeshkian

Despite the recent escalation, Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian on Wednesday ordered security forces not to crack down on economic protests, drawing a distinction between peaceful demonstrators and armed "rioters".

In a video released by the news agency Mehr after a cabinet meeting, Vice President Mohammad Jafar Ghaempanah said Pezeshkian had "ordered that no security measures be taken against the demonstrators".

"Those who carry firearms, knives and machetes and who attack police stations and military sites are rioters, and we must distinguish protesters from rioters," Ghaempanah added.

International Pressure 

On December 28 merchants in Tehran staged a protest against soaring prices and the collapse of the rial, triggering a wave of similar actions in several cities, some of them deadly. The demonstrations have yet to reach the scale of a 2022 to 2023 movement, let alone that of the mass 2009 street protests that followed disputed elections.

But the economic protests have attracted international attention, including from the leaders of the Islamic republic's international foes. "We're watching it very closely. If they start killing people like they have in the past, I think they're going to get hit very hard by the United States," Trump told reporters on Sunday.

Netanyahu, meanwhile, told Israel's cabinet: "We stand in solidarity with the struggle of the Iranian people and with their aspirations for freedom, liberty and justice."

On Monday, the Iranian foreign ministry accused Trump and Netanyahu of inciting violence and trying to undermine Iran's national unity.