MOSCOW, January 19. /TASS/. US President Donald Trump encouraged violence in Iran while sending a contradictory message about "protecting the Iranian people," the country’s ambassador to Russia Kazem Jalali said in an op-ed for TASS.
"While Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian was meeting with members of the Chamber of Commerce, businessmen and entrepreneurs, and receiving them at cabinet meetings, the US president issued provocative statements, political messages and public threats, through which he encouraged violence, supported terrorist groups, fueled social instability and attempted to turn peaceful demonstrations into violent unrest," the diplomat noted.
The ambassador called Trump the "architect and implementer of the policy of maximum pressure and sanctions," who sends "absurd and contradictory signals about ‘supporting,’ ‘saving,’ or ‘protecting the Iranian people.’"
Unrest in Iran began on December 29, 2025, when street protests triggered by a sharp fall in the Iranian rial exchange rate spread across most major cities. Authorities reported the deaths of 40 law enforcement officers. According to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, armed terrorists appeared among the demonstrators on January 8. The Iranian authorities blamed Israel and the United States for organizing the unrest.
On January 10, Trump said that Tehran "is looking at freedom, perhaps like never before," adding that the US "stands ready to help." At the same time, he did not rule out the possibility of using force against the Islamic Republic.