“We came out [to protest] with fear, but we had hope that Trump will strike now, will kill these guys.”After Trump refrained from launching an attack, she concluded that he did not have Iranians’ interests in mind. We’ll be hitting them very hard where it hurts.”In another post, Trump promised that “HELP IS ON ITS WAY,” encouraging Iranians to “TAKE OVER” regime institutions. Trump said late last week that Iranian authorities had canceled plans to execute 800 protesters. Some Iranians hold out hope that Trump could yet decide to intervene. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has said in a statement that “nobody knows what President Trump will do with respect to Iran besides the President himself.”Some foreign officials said Trump owes support to the Iranian protesters.

Source: Washington Post January 19, 2026 14:31 UTC