Trump says US will intervene if Iran violently suppresses peaceful protests

Jan 2 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said that if Iran shoots and violently kills peaceful protesters, the United States of America will come to their rescue.

"We are locked and loaded and ready to go," he said in a Truth Social post.

This follows the deaths of several people as Iran's biggest protests in three years over economic hardship turned violent across multiple provinces.

The clashes between protesters and security forces mark a significant escalation in the unrest that has spread across the country since shopkeepers began protesting on Sunday over the government's handling of a sharp currency slide and rapidly rising prices.

Iran's economy has struggled for years since the U.S. reimposed sanctions in 2018, after Trump withdrew from an international nuclear agreement during his first term.

(Reporting by Shivani Tanna in Bengaluru; Editing by Toby Chopra)