Trump says US will 'come to their rescue' if Iran kills protesters

President Donald Trump threatened Friday that the United States is "locked and loaded" if Iran kills protesters, after cost-of-living demonstrations in the country turned deadly. 

"If Iran shoots and violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue," Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

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"We are locked and loaded and ready to go." The US president said.

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This comes after several people were killed during unrest in Iran overnight into Thursday, Iranian media and rights groups reported, as the biggest protests to hit the country for three years over soaring inflation sparked violence in several regions.

A member of Iran's security forces was also killed during protests that have swept across the country.

The clashes between protesters and security services mark a significant escalation in the unrest that has spread since shopkeepers began protesting on Sunday over the government's handling of a currency slide and rapidly rising prices.

Iran's prosecutor general said on Wednesday that economic protests that had gripped the country were legitimate, but any attempt to create insecurity would be met with a "decisive response".

"Peaceful livelihood protests are part of social and understandable realities," Mohammad Movahedi-Azad told state media after three days of protests by shopkeepers in the capital, Tehran, which were joined by students across the country.

"Any attempt to turn economic protests into a tool of insecurity, destruction of public property, or implementation of externally designed scenarios will inevitably be met with a legal, proportionate, and decisive response."

The unrest also comes at a critical moment for Iran's clerical rulers as Western sanctions hammer an economy hit by 40 per cent inflation and after Israeli and US airstrikes in June targeted the country's nuclear infrastructure and military leadership.

Inputs from Reuters