Iran has issued a deadly threat to American soldiers following days of deadly protests and unrest which has left the Islamic Republic in peril.
Tehran's parliamentary Speaker has warned that US troops and facilities all across the Middle East are now considered valid targets for attack.
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf issued the threat on Friday in response to Donald Trump's promise to support Iranian protesters.
"The dishonourable President of America should know that with this official confession all American centres and forces throughout the region will be our legitimate targets in response to any possible adventurism," Mr Ghalibaf raged.
Mr Trump's message on Truth Social offered a pledge of support for demonstrators in the country.
"If Iran shoots and violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue," he wrote.
"We are locked and loaded and ready to go."
Last June, the US was again "locked and loaded" as it bombed Iranian nuclear facilities, joining an Israeli air campaign that targeted Tehran's atomic programme and military leadership.
PICTURED: US troops board a Chinook helicopter after a live-fire exercise in Iraq. Iran has threatened American soldiers across the Middle East after Donald Trump's words
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Responding to Mr Trump's comments, top Iranian official Ali Larijani warned that America stepping in would destabilise the entire Middle East.
And Tehran's UN ambassador then demanded the Security Council condemn Mr Trump.
"Iran will exercise its rights decisively and proportionately. The United States of America bears full responsibility for any consequences arising from these unlawful threats and any ensuing escalation," he said in a letter.
But one high-profile Iranian has fervently backed the US: Reza Pahlavi, the son of the country's last Shah.
IRAN IN CHAOS - READ MORE:
Tehran raged at the 'dishonourable President of America' and said all soldiers were now 'legitimate targets' for attack
| REUTERSHe thanked Mr Trump for his "strong leadership and support" of the protesters on Friday.
"This warning you have issued to the criminal leaders of the Islamic Republic gives my people greater strength and hope - hope that, at last, a President of the United States is standing firmly by their side," the Crown Prince said.
The war of words came less than a week after Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian launched into an inflammatory anti-Western tirade.
Mr Pezeshkian told Iranian state media that he believed his country was already at war with the Western world.
PICTURED: Iranian protesters march down streets and burn posters of the Ayatollah
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"They want to bring our country to its knees," he said as he declared a "total war" with the United States, Israel and Europe.
But under his nose, mass protests against soaring inflation have seen at least 10 people killed.
They have so far spread across multiple provinces - including to capital Tehran - drawing shopkeepers, bazaar traders, university students and more onto the streets.
They are the biggest since nationwide demonstrations triggered by the death of a young woman in custody in 2022 paralysed Iran for weeks and left hundreds of people dead.
Protesters have shouted "shameless, shameless" at the authorities - as well as slogans including "death to the dictator".
Footage and images from Iran have showed some going as far as to burn posters of the Ayatollah -
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