Should the US become involved in helping protesters in Iran?

[Ihatetomatoes]

The situation is awful there now. Should the US become involved?

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm2jek15m8no.amp

Iran has warned it will retaliate if attacked by the US, as BBC sources and activists report hundreds of protesters have now been killed in an escalating government crackdown.

"Things here are very, very bad," a source in Tehran said on Sunday. "A lot of our friends have been killed. They were firing live rounds. It's like a war zone, the streets are full of blood. They're taking away bodies in trucks."

The BBC counted about 180 body bags in footage from a morgue near Tehran. The US-based Human Rights Activist News Agency says it has verified the deaths of 495 protesters and 48 security personnel nationwide.

Another 10,600 people have been detained over the fortnight of unrest, the agency says.

The US has threatened to intervene in Iran over the killing of protesters, but on Sunday, US President Donald Trump said that Iranian leaders had called him and that "they want to negotiate".

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/iran-protests-live-death-toll-trump-khamenei-ayatollah-b2898535.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/11/world/middleeast/iran-president-protests-economy-response.html

Yes they should, Iranians are out in force and for the most part unarmed. There are very good selfish reasons to do it as well and I hope thats enough to get the USA to act. Mainly though you have unarmed civilians being mowed down by their own government and I think thats enough moral reason to do so.

It's really awful whats happening there. The people are really brave protesting against the regime. I hope they overthrow the leadership but they need help since the leadership control everything.

Yes absolutely. The regime needs to go.

No. Because if the US start bombing, it might actually stop the protests. And that will play right into the regimes hands.

Who is going to protest outside a government building if government buildings are being targeted by bombers.

They don't bomb where protesters are but carry out strikes on selected military targets. Remember they bombed a selected target several months ago.

I'm sure the leaders are no longer in the government buildings.

I’m not sure - there’s a possibility that the US wading in could make things worse. I believe Trump is considered lots of ways of hurting the Iranian leadership without necessarily putting “boots on the ground” - things like economic sanctions or cyber warfare.

Maybe once he's sorted out the problems back home.

Exactly. So what are the US going to Bomb ?

And of course, the real difficulty with Iran from a military point, is that it is very big, mountainous, and they have about 960k troops.

The US can't just chopper in a battalion of troops in to Tehran to help the protestors. Yes, the regime needs ousting, but it has to happen from inside IMO.

The US need to stay out of other countries.

What will bombing selected military targets for people in the street ?

Iran has near a million troops, all indoctrinated that the USA is Satan himself. Start bombing them and they will double down on protecting the regime. What the protestors need is for some of the military to join them, to start a cascade. The change needs to be from within.

To do what, support the Iranian regime? Trump is nothing but a tin pot dictator himself. Perhaps the rest of the world should get together, bomb the US and remove Trump.

Dream on … the US has a lot of allies including the UK.

Even if we weren’t scared of US retaliation (which any sensible country is) most of the world have no interest in bombing the US.

The last thing we need, is a despot like Trump getting involved in Iran, because he will do it for the same reasons as removing Maduro in Venezuela - oil, which would take us back to 1953, when the US and UK organised a coup in Iran and removed the democratically elected prime minister - Mossadeq. When the Shah went into exile in 1979, the US/UK hoped that a group of "friendly" mullahs would lead the country, until the Shah's son could take control. How did that work out?

The current US administration doesn't "help" anyone, except themselves.

Yes.

I think it’d make things worse. The U.S. shouldn’t really be playing policeman of the world anymore. They’ve lost any moral authority. I feel for the people. We’ve seen this time and again through history. You can only force people into compliance for so long. Eventually they will make moves towards freedom, there’s almost a sad inevitably to it.

I do think real change needs to come from within. I’d agree with a pp that the protestors need the military to join them, to start a cascade. That won’t happen with a foreign combatant on the ground.

I think the US should stay out of it if at all possible. It's entirely possible the IRGC army will defect anyway. Imagine shooting your own people!

No, the US should stay out of it. We should know by now that nothing good happens to ordinary citizens when the US gets involved in the politics of other nations.

oldtiredcyclist has given you a potted history of what happened the last time and look how that turned out. I would go so far as to say that if we hadn't removed Mosssadeq that Iran would not be as it is today.

The citizens of Afghanistan, Libya, Iraq and Syria have all suffered because we couldn't mind our own business. Things may not have been great for some of them before we interfered but they are worse now.

No. The US should stop attacking other countries.

Lets hope for the people of Iran, this happens. So many protesters are being killed.

People within the country are protesting for change. Sadly over 10,000 arrested and hundreds killed already. They are very brave.