“Iranian patriots, continue to demonstrate.”

After more than two weeks of bloodily repressed protests paralyzing the country, Donald Trump, on Truth, supports the Tehran crowds: "Take control of the institutions. Save the names of those who kill and abuse; they will pay a heavy price. I have canceled all meetings with Iranian officials. Help is on the way ."

According to Iran International, the London-based opposition media outlet, at least 12,000 people, many under 30, have been killed in protests in Iran. Meanwhile, the country "has now been offline for 120 hours," as reported by the internet observatory Netblocks, which states that "although some phone calls are now working, there is no secure way to communicate, and the population remains isolated from the rest of the world." The images that have managed to leak, Netblocks explains, "show a massive use of force against civilians."

As the Iranian regime attempts to regain the initiative, with thousands of people gathered in Tehran and other cities for a counter-demonstration in support of the Islamic Republic, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova calls Washington's threats to launch new military strikes against Iran "categorically unacceptable" and rejects "the brazen attempts to blackmail Iran's foreign partners by increasing trade tariffs. " "Whoever intends to use the unrest" underway in Iran "as a pretext" for a new attack on the Islamic Republic like the one last June "must be aware of the disastrous consequences of such actions for the situation in the Middle East and for global international security."

Meanwhile, there is a head-on clash with the Europeans: the Iranian Foreign Ministry has announced it will summon representatives from Italy, Great Britain, France, and Germany to condemn their governments' support for the "rebels." This comes just as the European Parliament has barred all Iranian representatives from the meeting. "The Islamic Republic of Iran does not seek war, but is fully prepared for war," warned Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, while also opening negotiations as long as they are "fair, with equal rights, and based on mutual respect." Araghchi himself announced that he has opened a "channel of communication with the special envoy of the United States president," Steve Witkoff.