‘Help is on its way’: Trump tells Iranians to keep protesting

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said Iranians should continue nationwide protests and take over the country’s institutions.

“Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING - TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

“Save the names of the killers and abusers. They will pay a big price. I have cancelled all meetings with Iranian Officials until the senseless killing of protesters STOPS. HELP IS ON ITS WAY.”

Trump did not specify what form the promised “help” would take, in a message that backed regime change in the Islamic Republic — marking a change in the US stance from one day ago.

On Monday, his Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that a channel for diplomacy with Tehran remained open, saying that Iran was taking a “far different tone” in private discussions with Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff.

Trump on Monday also announced a 25 per cent tariff on any country doing business with Iran.

Meanwhile, Russia on Tuesday condemned what it described as “subversive external interference” in Iran’s internal politics and said US threats of new military strikes against the country were “categorically unacceptable”.

“Those who plan to use externally inspired unrest as a pretext for repeating the aggression against Iran committed in June 2025 must be aware of the disastrous consequences of such actions for the situation in the Middle East and global international security,” the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.