U.S. President Donald Trump said on the 13th (local time) that he would take strong action against Iran if the Iranian government executes anti-government protesters by hanging.
In an interview with CBS on the day, when asked, "We heard Iran will execute protesters by hanging tomorrow (the 14th). Have they crossed your red line?" Trump said, "I haven't heard about hanging," but added, "If they do such a thing, we will take very strong action."
Asked what the final stage of very strong action would be, he said, "To win. I like to win." On what "to win" means, Trump cited the recent ouster of Venezuela's iron-fisted ruler President Nicolás Maduro through a military operation, the operation during his first term to kill Qassem Soleimani, then commander of the elite Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and last year's surprise strike on Iran's nuclear facilities.
Given that all the "to win" cases he cited were surprise military operations, this is seen as suggesting the possibility of military intervention against Iran's leadership.
Earlier the same day, he said on the social media (SNS) platform Truth Social, "Patriots of Iran, keep protesting. Occupy your (government) institutions," adding, "I have canceled all meetings with Iranian officials until (the Iranian government) stops indiscriminate killing of protesters. Help is on the way."
In the interview, when asked what "help" means, Trump said, "A lot of help is going in various forms. From our standpoint, that includes economic support." He added, "I don't know the actual situation now. No one has given an exact figure on how many people they have killed," and said, "It seems like a considerable number, and that will be a big problem for them."