By Joshua Arnold

In a Tuesday morning Truth Social post, President Donald Trump issued his most vigorous endorsement yet of Iranian protestors currently demonstrating for their freedom. “Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING,” he urged. “TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!! Save the names of the killers and abusers. They will pay a big price. I have cancelled all meetings with Iranian Officials until the senseless killing of protesters STOPS. HELP IS ON ITS WAY. MIGA [Make Iran Great Again]!!!”

Journalists latched onto the president’s closing statement that “help is on its way,” suggesting that Trump may be “preparing for some kind of direct intervention in Iran.” However, when asked about the remark at an economic event in Detroit, Trump told reporters, “You’re going to have to figure that one out. I’m sorry.”

President Trump was responding to the ongoing clashes between the Iranian Islamist regime and pro-freedom demonstrators in the beleaguered country. After the regime shut off the internet late Thursday, the death toll among protestors has skyrocketed, as verified by the U.S.-based group HRANA. By late Monday, HRANA had verified the deaths of 505 protestors, 113 military and security personnel, and seven bystanders; it was still investigating 579 other reported deaths (official numbers do not exist, and the internet crackdown makes verification more difficult).

Iran’s repression of pro-freedom protestors has become so brutal that it even earned a rebuke Sunday from U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Gutierrez, who was “shocked by reports of violence and excessive use of force by Iranian authorities against protesters.” Alas, those who understand the regime’s character were not shocked by its behavior, but it is nonetheless striking to see Gutierrez and Trump lining up on the same side of a foreign policy crisis in the Middle East.

“This is not the first time [we’ve seen] the same scenario,” lamented Dr. Hormoz Shariat of Iran Alive Ministries on “Washington Watch.” “People come on the streets protesting, and the first little bit they tolerate. Then they turn off internet. The moment they turn off internet means they are going to start killing — which they have — and arresting people after people are dispersed from fear into their homes. Then they start executing those they have arrested.”

“But this time, it’s different,” Shariat insisted. The “people of Iran are not backing off. They’re being killed, but they’re not backing off. They are saying, ‘This is the end.’ … People are so desperate. That’s why they’re so brave. There’s no hope. There’s no future. And many of them don’t mind dying.” The most recent wave of protests began after Christmas among merchants whose businesses were ruined by the plummeting economy.

Shariat shared the story of a “young man on the streets telling the police … ‘Kill me. I’m young, but I never lived. I don’t have a life, so go ahead and kill me.’ That’s a sign of desperation, that people … don’t mind being killed.” He related another story of a person who told Shariat, “I was contemplating suicide in my home. Then I said, ‘Why should I kill myself in my home? Just go on [the] streets, fight these people, and, if I get killed, I get killed. At least I die for a cause.’”

“As you may know … Iranians love America, and they love Trump,” Shariat explained. “The people of Iran are totally different, separate in every way from the Iranian government. There is such a gap that whatever the Iranian government is for, the people are against. … They want freedom, American style.”

These desperate America-lovers are now “asking President Trump, ‘Would you come and help us?’” Shariat continued. “Even though thousands may be killed … the people of Iran … are saying there is no point of return, ‘We want the government of Iran to be changed, and we don’t mind giving our lives.’”

“Trump has a historical opportunity,” Shariat summarized. “He could, in the history of Iran, be written as a hero who came to help the people of Iran be free. And, in the Western society, his name could go down as somebody who turned an enemy of [the] United States into a friend.”

Therefore, much depends on what sort of help Trump chooses to send to the Iranian protestors. Trump told reporters on Sunday night that, “The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options.” On Tuesday, Trump met with senior advisors to discuss the available options, which reportedly include military strikes, cyber weapons, widening sanctions, and aid for the anti-government factions.

At least some forces within the GOP endorse all-out military action, with Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) urging Trump to “kill the leadership that are killing the people.”

However, at least as his first salvo, Trump deployed a more characteristically Trumpian tactic: tariffs. “Effective immediately, any Country doing business with the Islamic Republic of Iran will pay a Tariff of 25% on any and all business being done with the United States of America,” Trump announced Monday on Truth Social. “This Order is final and conclusive.”

In response to the prospect of U.S. action against it, the Iranian regime has responded by thumping its chest. At a conference in Tehran, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi claimed that Iran is “even more prepared than the previous war,” which it lost spectacularly to Israel last June. In the space of 12 days, Israel demolished the country’s air defenses, missile capabilities, and nuclear facilities — before the U.S. Air Force delivered the knockout blow. In light of these facts, Iran’s chest-thumping sounds hollow.

To make matters worse for the Iranian government, its political crisis is also a spiritual one — perhaps an inevitable hazard for religious regimes. Since the government bases itself on Islam, demonstrators have viewed Islamic institutions as an agent of the regime that should fall alongside it. The regime claimed that 53 mosques have been set on fire during the demonstrations, with Aragchi asserting that “no true Iranian would attack a mosque.” Perhaps his Islamic ideology and high-ranking office put him out of touch with the sentiments of the average Persian.

By contrast, the underground church in Iran is enjoying a growing witness among the protests. “One person just called a couple days ago,” Shariat recalled. “He said, ‘I just came to Christ. … I was wounded on the streets of Tehran. I was running towards my home because I cannot go to [the] hospital. … One person pulled me into his home to help me. And he brought a surgeon … and he helped me to take the bullet off of my leg. And then they shared the gospel with me. I realized there are Christians who are helping me. So I came to Christ last night in that home.’”

“We … have many stories of how Christians are on [the] street,” he concluded. “Some of them have been killed, arrested, and wounded. We know that. But Christians are on the streets helping people, sharing the gospel.”

The Iranian regime officially persecutes Christianity, prohibiting conversion and imprisoning those who come to faith in Jesus Christ. Yet, as the evil regime falters, the church continues to advance. As Jesus promised, “I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18).

Joshua Arnold is a senior writer at The Washington Stand.