A top Iranian official on Friday declared that American troops and assets in the Middle East are now “legitimate targets” for military strikes after President Trump posted to Truth Social that the US was ready to support peaceful protesters in Tehran.
“The dishonorable president of American should know that with this official confession all American centres and forces throughout the region will be our legitimate targets in response to any possible adventurism,” Speaker of the Iranian Parliament Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said in a statement.
It came hours after Trump issued a vague promise of support of peaceful protests erupting in Iran.
“If Iran shoots and violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of American will come to their rescue,” he wrote. “We are locked and ready to go.”
The exchange less than a week after Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told Iranian state media that he believed Tehran was “at total war with the United States, Israel and Europe.”
“They want to bring our country to its knees,” Pezeshkian said.
