WEST PALM BEACH: US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that the United States was “ready to help” as anti-government protests in Iran continued and authorities in Tehran signalled a tougher crackdown on demonstrators.

“Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!!” Trump wrote in a social media post, without giving further details.

His comments came as Iran’s leadership warned it could intensify action against the largest wave of protests in years, with the Revolutionary Guards blaming unrest on “terrorists” and vowing to protect the ruling system.

After nightfall on Saturday, new videos posted online purported to show fresh protests in a number of neighbourhoods in the capital Tehran and several cities, including Rasht in the north, Tabriz in the north-west and Shiraz and Kerman in the south. Reuters could not immediately verify the latest videos.

The exiled son of Iran’s last shah, who has emerged as a prominent voice in the fragmented opposition, made his strongest call yet for the protests to broaden into a revolt to topple the clerical rulers.

State media said a municipal building was set on fire in Karaj, west of Tehran, and blamed “rioters”. State TV broadcast footage of funerals of members of the security forces it said were killed in protests in the cities of Shiraz, Qom and Hamedan.

Footage posted on Friday on social media showed large crowds gathered in Tehran and fires lit in the street. In one video verified by Reuters showing a night-time protest in Tehran’s Saadatabad district, a man is heard saying the crowd had taken over the area.

Protests have spread across Iran since December 28, beginning in response to soaring inflation, and quickly turning political with protesters demanding an end to the incumbent government. Authorities accuse the US and Israel of fomenting unrest.

A senior US intelligence official described the situation as an “endurance game”. The opposition was trying to keep up pressure until key government figures either flee or switch sides, while the authorities were trying to sow enough fear to clear the streets without giving the United States justification to intervene, the official said.

Iranian rights group HRANA says at least 50 protesters and 15 security personnel have been killed, and some 2,300 arrested.

Army says ‘terrorist groups’ seek to undermine security

The semi-official Tasnim news agency reported the arrest of 100 “armed rioters” in the town of Baharestan near Tehran.

In a statement broadcast by state TV, the IRGC – an elite force which has suppressed previous bouts of unrest – accused “terrorists” of targeting military and law enforcement bases over the past two nights. It said several citizens and security personnel had been killed and public and private property set on fire.

Safeguarding the achievements of the Islamic revolution and maintaining security was a “red line”, it added.

The regular military also issued a statement saying it would “protect and safeguard national interests, the country’s strategic infrastructure, and public property”.

Pahlavi says goal is to prepare to ‘seize city centres’

In a video posted on X, US-based Reza Pahlavi, 65, whose father was toppled as Iran’s shah in the 1979 revolution, said the Islamic Republic would be brought “to its knees”. He called for people to seize the centres of their towns, and said he was preparing to return soon to Iran.

“Our goal is no longer merely to come into the streets; the goal is to prepare to seize city centres and hold them,” he said.

A doctor in north-western Iran said that since Friday, large numbers of injured protesters had been brought to hospitals. Some were badly beaten, suffering head injuries and broken legs and arms, as well as deep cuts.

At least 20 people in one hospital had been shot with live ammunition, five of whom later died.

Trump said on Thursday he was not inclined to meet Pahlavi, a sign that he was waiting to see how the crisis plays out before backing an opposition leader.

Iran’s rulers have weathered repeated bouts of unrest, including student protests in 1999, over a disputed election in 2009, against economic hardships in 2019, and in 2022 over the death in custody of a woman accused of violating dress codes.

Trump, who joined Israel to strike Iran’s nuclear sites last summer, has included Iran in lists of places in which he could intervene since sending forces to seize the president of Venezuela a week ago. On Friday, in a warning to Iran’s leaders, he said: “You better not start shooting because we’ll start shooting too.”

On Friday, Khamenei accused protesters of acting on behalf of Trump, saying rioters were attacking public properties and warning that Tehran would not tolerate people acting as “mercenaries for foreigners”.

• White House says move aimed at advancing foreign policy.
• Order follows Trump’s meeting with top US oil executives.
• Fact sheet says US president preventing revenue seizure.
  

US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order protecting US-held money derived from sales of Venezuelan oil, after the ouster of Nicolas Maduro, the White House said.

In an order signed Friday, Trump — who has made clear that tapping Venezuela’s vast oil reserves was a key goal in the US ouster of Maduro — is acting “to advance US foreign policy objectives,” the White House said in a fact sheet accompanying the order.

The action follows a meeting Friday in Washington where Trump pressed top oil executives to invest in Venezuela, and was met with a cautious reception — with the chief executive of ExxonMobil describing the country as “uninvestable” without sweeping reforms.

ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips exited in 2007 after refusing demands by then-president Hugo Chavez to cede majority control to the state. They have been fighting to recoup billions of dollars they say Venezuela owes them.

Chevron is currently the only US firm licensed to operate in Venezuela.

Trump’s executive order signed Friday declares a national emergency “to safeguard Venezuelan oil revenue held in US Treasury accounts from attachment or judicial process,” the White House fact sheet said.

In effect, it places those revenues under special protection in order to prevent them from being seized by courts or creditors. The action is decreed to be necessary for US national security and foreign policy.

“President Trump is preventing the seizure of Venezuelan oil revenue that could undermine critical US efforts to ensure economic and political stability in Venezuela,” the fact sheet said.

Sanctioned by Washington since 2019, Venezuela sits on about a fifth of the world’s oil reserves and was once a major crude supplier to the United States.

But it produced only around 1% of the world’s total crude output in 2024, according to OPEC, having been hampered by years of underinvestment, sanctions and embargoes.

Trump sees the country’s massive oil reserves as a windfall in his fight to further lower US domestic fuel prices.

The executive order comes one week after US forces seized authoritarian leader Maduro in a nighttime operation in the Venezuelan capital that killed dozens of Venezuelan and Cuban security forces.

• Parties unite against US takeover rhetoric.
• Trump’s threats spark concern across Europe.
• Independence debate intensifies amid geopolitical pressure.

Greenland’s political parties said they did not want to be under Washington as US President Donald Trump again suggested using force to seize the mineral-rich Danish autonomous territory, raising concern worldwide.

The statement late Friday came after Trump repeated that Washington was “going to do something on Greenland, whether they like it or not”.

European capitals have been scrambling to come up with a coordinated response after the White House said this week that Trump wanted to buy Greenland and refused to rule out military action.

“We don’t want to be Americans, we don’t want to be Danish, we want to be Greenlanders,” the leaders of five parties in Greenland’s parliament said in a joint statement.

“The future of Greenland must be decided by Greenlanders.”

“No other country can meddle in this. We must decide our country’s future ourselves — without pressure to make a hasty decision, without procrastination, and without interference from other countries,” they underscored.

Julius Nielsen, a 48-year-old fisherman in the capital Nuuk, told AFP: “American? No! We were a colony for so many years. We´re not ready to be a colony again, to be colonised”.

A Danish colony until 1953, Greenland gained home rule 26 years later and is contemplating eventually loosening its ties with Denmark.

Many Greenlanders remain cautious about making this a reality.

“I really like the idea of us being independent, but I think we should wait. Not for now. Not today,” Pitsi Mari, who works in telecoms, told AFP.

“I feel like the United States’ interference disrupts all relationships and trust” between Denmark and Greenland, said Inaluk Pedersen, a 21-year-old shop assistant.

The coalition currently in power is not in favour of a hasty independence. The only opposition party, Naleraq, which won 24.5% of the vote in the 2025 legislative elections, wants to cut ties as quickly as possible but it is also a signatory of the joint declaration.

“It’s time for us to start preparing for the independence we have fought for over so many years,” said MP Juno Berthelsen in a Facebook post.

According to a poll published on Saturday by Danish agency Ritzau, more than 38% of Danes think the United States will launch an invasion of Greenland under the Trump administration.

Vast natural resources

Denmark and other European allies have voiced shock at Trump’s threats on Greenland, a strategic island between North America and the Arctic where the United States has had a military base since World War II.

Trump says controlling the island is crucial for US national security given the rising military activity of Russia and China in the Arctic.

“We’re not going to have Russia or China occupy Greenland. That’s what they’re going to do if we don’t. So we’re going to be doing something with Greenland, either the nice way or the more difficult way,” the US president said Friday.

Both Russia and China have increased military activity in the region in recent years, but neither has laid any claim to the vast icy island.

Greenland has also attracted international attention in recent years for its vast natural resources, including rare earth minerals and estimates that it could possess huge oil and gas reserves.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has warned that an invasion of Greenland would end “everything”, meaning the transatlantic NATO defence pact and the post-World War II security structure.

Flurry of diplomacy

“I’m a fan of Denmark, too, I have to tell you. And you know, they’ve been very nice to me,” Trump said.

“But you know, the fact that they had a boat land there 500 years ago doesn´t mean that they own the land.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is due to meet next week with Denmark´s foreign minister and representatives from Greenland.

A flurry of diplomacy is under way as Europeans try to head off a crisis while at the same time avoiding the wrath of Trump, who is nearing the end of his first year back in power.

Trump had offered to buy Greenland in 2019 during his first presidential term but was rebuffed.

The head of NATO´s forces in Europe, US General Alexus Grynkewich, said Friday the military alliance was far from being in “a crisis”, following Trump´s threats to bring Greenland under US control.