Source: Washington Examiner · 2026-09-03 · Original article ↗

Trump says Iranians won’t rise up because ‘they’re being shot’ and refuses to say if CIA would aid protesters

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Sixty-five thousand. He asked why they do not rise. Then he said they are being shot.

Summary

  • The Washington Examiner reports President Trump told Oval Office reporters Wednesday it would not be appropriate to say whether U.S. intelligence would materially aid Iranian protesters.
  • Trump said his Truth Social question, when are the Iranian people going to rise up and fight, was rhetorical because they are being shot. He put the death toll from the December 2025 to January uprising near 65,000.
  • Those protests preceded Operation Epic Fury in February. The regime crushed the street first. Trump said he could not care less about a worthless agreement and prefers almost total control of Hormuz while Iran's economy collapses.
  • Secretary of State Marco Rubio told The Brian Kilmeade Show the old memorandum ship has sailed. Sen. Ted Cruz has urged arming protesters and Kurds. Trump said the regime gets weaker by the day and will not shoot so easily forever.

Commentary

A machinist still wipes solvent off a cracked knuckle and watches a foreign street on a break-room TV that should not be a firing line. He did not pay for a worthless paper while a regime emptied magazines into a crowd.

Sixty-five thousand. A rhetorical question. A refusal to narrate the CIA. The honest dad already paid the sortie. The firing squad paid the silence.

Look every working father who still stands for a foreign flag at a VFW hall in the eye and answer this: if they are being shot in the street, who still owns the next move?

Comments

If 65,000 can be shot off the street, who still owns the next move in Iran?
u/border_dad · 5h

He asked the question already knowing the answer. They are being shot. That is the brief.

u/midwest_vet · 4h

I watched a crackdown from a turret. A worthless deal after 65,000 is not mercy. It is a pause for the shooter.

u/rule_first · 4h

Oval Office, Sept. 2. CIA question declined. Rubio: the ship has sailed. Publish both lines.

u/tokyo_ally · 3h

Allied streets still know a firing line when they see one. A memo is not a shield.

u/docket_rat · 3h

December 2025 to January. Epic Fury in February. Cruz wants arms. File the sequence.

u/night_shift · 2h

I still eat from a vending machine under fluorescent light. I want the shooter poorer tomorrow.

u/texas_mom · 90m

A mother in Tehran should not have to count bodies before the West counts paper.

u/gulf_watch · 55m

Hormuz in hand and an economy collapsing is leverage. Do not trade it for a signature.

u/press_clip · 30m

Examiner printed 65,000, being shot, and the CIA refusal. Argue those nouns.

u/soc_lead · 15m

Hold the strait. Starve the magazines. A firing line is not a peace process.

Paraphrased comments. Not attributed.

More from this rōnin

Stories → Discoveries → Books → Buy me a coffee →
A Samurai Loose in Modern America Volume Two cover
New release: Volume Two — 100 stories
A Samurai Loose in Modern America — Volume Two. One hundred later field reports.
See on Amazon → NEW
NOBUNAGA samurai icon
⚔️ A hundred misunderstandings, properly bound.
Every misadventure with America, gathered together and footnoted with afterwords.
Behold the collection →
NOBUNAGA icon
No sword raised against you. Just a tired rōnin with a brush.
If these stories made your day a little lighter, a coffee keeps the ink flowing.
☕ Buy this samurai a coffee