'World is now responding,' exiled prince tells Iran protesters

US Senator Bernie Sanders said on Tuesday Iran is facing widespread unrest as millions of people protest against the country’s government, urging US support for what he described as legitimate demands for freedom while warning against military intervention.

“Iran is in turmoil. Millions of people are rising up against the autocratic government. Not surprisingly, the regime is responding brutally by killing thousands of protestors, according to some estimates," Independent Senator of Maine posted on X.

"The Iranian people have the right to determine their own future and the United States should support their legitimate aspirations for freedom and democracy. But we must not do so at the barrel of a gun," he said.

He called on Trump administration to refrain from any military option and suggested other support in forms of helping civil society.

"The United States must support the Iranian people. We must join the Iranian people in demanding the immediate end of government violence against protestors, an immediate end to the media and internet blackout and censorship currently in place, and internationally supervised free elections so that the people of Iran can determine their own future," Sanders said.

US Representative Claudia Tenney posted an image on X on Tuesday showing a photo of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei being burned to light a cigar, joining a form of protest imagery that has circulated online in connection with Iran.

“Smoke ’em if you got ’em,” the Republican House member from New York said.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday released a statement expressing support for the people of Iran and condemning what it described as violent repression of peaceful protesters.

“Congress and the American people stand with the resilient people of Iran in their aspiration for a free and prosperous future. We condemn in the strongest possible terms the reported killing of thousands of peaceful protestors for exercising their right to free speech," Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch and Ranking Member Jeanne Shaheen said.

"We demand that the government of Iran immediately cease suppression of its people. The future of Iran should be decided by the Iranian people," the statement added.

US Senator Tom Cotton on Tuesday posted messages on X criticizing Iran and calling attention to what he described as violence and atrocities against the Iranian people.

“As Iran slaughters its own citizens by the thousand, remember: this is a terrorist regime that has killed hundreds of Americans and tried to assassinate Americans on US soil," Republican Senator of Arkansans said.

"The world needs to see the atrocities being perpetrated by the Iranian regime on their people," he also added.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday said the United States could take “very strong action” if Iran executes protesters, adding there was “a lot of help on the way” for Iranians.

“There’s a lot of help on the way and in different forms, including economic help from our standpoint,” Trump said in an interview with CBS News.

Trump said the United States had already eliminated Iran’s nuclear capacity and accused Iranian authorities of killing protesters in large numbers, though he said casualty figures remained unclear.

“Nobody’s been able to give us accurate numbers about how many people they’ve killed,” he said. “It looks like it could be a pretty substantial number.”

Pressed on the end goal, he added: “The end game is to win. I like winning.”