Protests in Iran are growing against the despotic regime, and on Friday President Trump declared American solidarity with the protesters. “If Iran shots (sic) and violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom,” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social, “the United States of America will come to their rescue. We are locked and loaded and ready to go.”

The words lacked diplomatic subtlety, but the mullahs in Tehran got the message. Top Iranian officials issued frantic statements in response, and the press now has reason to pay more attention to the protests. Iran’s security forces have killed at least eight protesters and arrested many more.

What began a couple of weeks ago with Tehran shopkeepers has spread nationwide and hardened into anti-regime demonstrations. Iranians know the source of their economic plight. The Islamic Republic has made Iran a pariah and deprived its people — and for what? A nuclear program and terrorist proxy empire? Both now lie in ruins.

Mr. Trump’s contrast with Barack Obama couldn’t be greater. Mr. Obama stayed mute in 2009 while the regime put down protests following a rigged election. Then again, Mr. Obama never would have joined with Israel to bomb Iran’s nuclear program, as Mr. Trump did in June.

Saturday was the anniversary of Mr. Trump’s 2020 strike that killed Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the architect of Iran’s terror empire. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei can’t be confident that Mr. Trump won’t follow through on his latest threat.

Mr. Trump’s words imply the use of military force, but this seems unlikely to go beyond what’s left of the nuclear program or the ballistic-missile program he threatened on Monday. In June only Israel attacked Iran’s apparatus of repression.

The president has other options to support Iranians. The U.S. can help protesters with strike funds and communications, extending Starlink access or virtual private networks when the regime cuts off the internet. The U.S. can also expose regime thugs and cripple their communications, while encouraging defections.
Above all, Mr. Trump can enforce oil sanctions as he now is doing in Venezuela. When Iran’s “shadow fleet” can no longer take discounted crude to China, the regime will know he meant what he said. Iran is exporting 2 million barrels a day — 20 times the “maximum pressure” target set out by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in February.

The Islamic Republic is ideologically bankrupt, pushing Iranians away from Islam, and it has run Iran’s economy into the ground. There have been false dawns of protest before, but Iran’s regime is vulnerable. As the protest waves build, they expose the regime’s dependence on fear and violence.

— The Wall Street Journal