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A placard displayed at a state-organized event in Tehran on Wednesday threatened US President Donald Trump, saying that a future shooting would not miss.
The placard was shown at a gathering organized by Iranian authorities to honor security personnel killed in protests.
Trump has warned Iran’s leadership not to use force against protesters, saying that if demonstrators were shot, he would respond in kind. He has also urged Iranians to continue protesting, saying that help was on the way.
The US president was wounded in the ear during a shooting at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania in July 2024. US authorities said the attack was carried out by a lone gunman.
Sweden’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday that it summoned Iran’s ambassador to protest deadly violence against peaceful demonstrators and widespread arbitrary detentions.
"The Iranian people's right to express their opinions and to demonstrate must be respected," Sweden’s Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard said on X on Wednesday, calling for internet access in Iran to be restored.
Plainclothes security forces and members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have targeted the homes of families of people killed in recent protests in eastern Tehran, sources familiar with the matter told Iran International.
The sources said the forces carried out intimidating raids, including firing shots, hurling insults and ransacking homes.
They added that families were instructed to collect the bodies of those killed during pre-dawn hours and to conduct burials quickly and privately, or face the risk of collective burials.
The sources also said families were told they would be charged fees related to the use of live ammunition.
Some personnel at the US military’s Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar were advised to leave by Wednesday evening, Reuters reported, as Iran warned regional countries that it would strike US bases on their soil if Washington attacks Iran.
Al Udeid is the largest US base in the Middle East, housing around 10,000 troops. Ahead of US air strikes on Iran in June, some personnel were moved off US bases in the region.
Earlier in the day, Iran warned regional countries that it will strike US military bases on their soil if Washington attacks Iran, a senior Iranian official told Reuters, after President Donald Trump threatened to intervene amid nationwide anti-government protests.
"Tehran has told regional countries, from Saudi Arabia and the UAE to Turkey, that US bases in those countries will be attacked if the US targets Iran," the official said, adding that Iran had asked those governments to try to prevent any US attack.
Also on Wednesday, Turkey’s foreign minister spoke by phone with his Iranian counterpart and stressed "the need for negotiations to resolve current regional tensions," a Turkish foreign ministry source told Reuters.
On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump said that he has cancelled all meetings with Iranian officials amid the brutal crackdown on protesters, telling Iranians "help is on its way."
"Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING - TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!! Save the names of the killers and abusers. They will pay a big price," Trump said in a post on his Truth Social account.
"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]!!!" he added.
European Parliament President Roberta Metsola said the days of dictators were numbered and that they would come to an end in 2026, as she urged the European Union to step up pressure on Iran over its crackdown on protesters.
"2026 is the year where dictatorships will be over," Metsola said in an interview with Euronews, adding that the Iranian leadership was "on its last legs."
She called on the EU to move quickly on measures including more sanctions and a possible designation of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist group.
