Iran’s efforts to quell a wave of anti-government protests have been complicated by Donald Trump’s threat to intervene on their side, a warning firmly underlined by the subsequent US capture of Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro, officials and insiders said on Monday.

A day before US special forces seized Maduro and his wife on January 3 and whisked them off to New York, the US president warned in a social media post that if Iran’s leadership killed protesters who had taken to the streets since December 28, the US “will come to their rescue. At least 17 people have died so far.

Tehran’s options have been limited by Trump’s threats and a long-running economic crisis that deepened after Israel, joined by the US, launched strikes on the Islamic Republic in June in a 12-day war that pummelled several of Iran’s nuclear sites.

“These twin pressures have narrowed Tehran’s room for manoeuvre, leaving leaders caught between public anger on the streets and hardening demands and threats from Washington, with few viable options and high risks on every path,” one Iranian official told Reuters.

A second official said that, after US action in Venezuela, some of the authorities feared Iran could be “the next victim of Trump’s aggressive foreign policy”.

Iran’s economy has been hammered by years of US sanctions, but its rial has been in freefall since last year’s Israeli-US strikes that mainly targeted nuclear sites, where the West says Tehran has been working on nuclear arms. Iran denies this.

The protests that erupted in Tehran and which have spread to some cities in western and southern Iran do not match the scale of unrest that swept the nation in 2022-23.

A third official said worries were growing in Tehran that “Trump or Israel might take military action against Iran, like what they did in June.”

Iran, which has for years allied itself with fellow oil producer Venezuela, has condemned Washington’s action in Caracas. It has also condemned Trump’s statements about Iran.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said such statements about “Iran’s internal affairs amount, under international norms, to nothing more than incitement to violence, incitement to terrorism, and incitement to killing”.

On Friday, Trump threatened to intervene if protesters faced violence, declaring, “We are locked and loaded and ready to go,” though he offered no details.

Authorities have attempted to maintain a dual approach to the unrest, saying protests over the economy are legitimate and will be met by dialogue, while meeting some demonstrations with tear gas.

However, at least 17 people have been killed in a week, rights groups said on Sunday. Authorities have said at least two members of the security services had died and more than a dozen were injured in the unrest.

Negotiations have stalled since the June conflict, even as both sides insist they remain open to a deal.

Economic grievances remain at the heart of the latest unrest.

Witnesses in Tehran, Mashhad and Tabriz reported a heavy security presence in the main squares.

President Masoud Pezeshkian has urged dialogue and promised reforms to stabilise the monetary and banking systems and protect purchasing power.

Starting January 10, the government will provide a monthly stipend of 10,000,000 rials per person (about $7) in non-cashable electronic credit for use in select grocery stores.

For lower-income households, the measure represents a modest but meaningful boost. The rial lost roughly half its value against the dollar in 2025, while official inflation reached 42.5% in December.