Iran Threatens to Attack US Bases and Ships if They Interfere in Protests on Behalf of Demonstrators

Iranian citizens' actions against riots and rejecting price increases. (Wikimedia Commons/Mehr News Agency/Sajjad Vesagh)

JAKARTA - Iran has threatened to attack US military targets if it intervenes in the protests taking place in the country on behalf of the demonstrators.

US President Donald Trump has previously repeatedly threatened to intervene if violence is used against demonstrators.

In response, the Speaker of the Iranian Parliament Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf warned Washington not to make "mistakes."

"Let's be clear: if there is an attack on Iran, the occupied territories (Israel) as well as all US bases and ships will be our legitimate targets," said Qalibaf, a former commander in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), reported Al Arabiya from Reuters (12/1).

Protests broke out in Iran on December 28 in response to soaring prices, a plunge in the value of the Iranian rial against the US dollar, before turning against the clerical rulers who have ruled since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Iranian authorities accuse the United States and Israel of instigating the unrest.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in a television interview said Israel and the US were the instigators of destabilization, with Iran's enemies having brought in "terrorists who burn mosques, attack banks, and public property."

"Families, I ask you: don't let your children join the rioters and terrorists who behead people and kill others," he said, adding that the government was ready to listen to the people and solve economic problems.

Separately, three Israeli sources, who were present at Israeli security consultations over the weekend, said Israel was on high alert for a possible US intervention.

An Israeli military official said the protests were an internal Iranian matter, but the Israeli military was monitoring developments and ready to respond "with force if necessary."

It is known that Israel and Iran were involved in a 12-day war in June last year, which was followed by the United States attacking a major nuclear facility. Iran retaliated by firing missiles at Israel and an American air base in Qatar.

Although Iranian authorities have overcome previous protests, this latest protest comes as Tehran is still trying to recover from last year's war and its regional position weakened by blows to its allies such as Lebanon's Hezbollah since the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.