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Iran's top police official warned that anti-government protesters would be treated as enemies if they act in line with Tehran's adversaries amid concerns the ongoing Middle East war could trigger renewed unrest.
National police chief Ahmad-Reza Radan said protesters supporting Iran's enemies would no longer be regarded as demonstrators.
"If anyone comes forward in line with the wishes of the enemy, we will no longer see them as merely a protester; we will see them as an enemy," Radan said in remarks broadcast late Tuesday by state broadcaster IRIB.
"And we will do to them what we do to an enemy. We will deal with them in the same way we deal with enemies," he added.
Radan also said security forces were fully prepared.
"All our forces are also ready, with their hands on the trigger, prepared to defend their revolution," he said.
The warning follows a government crackdown on anti-government protests in January, which were sparked a month earlier by economic grievances in the sanctions-hit country.
Authorities described the demonstrations as "riots," and Radan at one stage issued an ultimatum calling on protesters to surrender or face the full force of the law.
Iranian authorities acknowledge that over 3,000 people were killed during the unrest, including members of the security forces and bystanders, but say the violence resulted from "terrorist acts" fueled by Iran's enemies.
The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) has recorded more than 7,000 killings in the crackdown, the majority of them protesters, though it says the toll may be far higher.
HRANA also reports that more than 50,000 people have been arrested.
The warning comes as tensions in the region intensified following military action involving Iran, Israel, and the U.S.
U.S. President Donald Trump initially supported the protesters and threatened to intervene on their behalf as authorities launched a deadly crackdown, but his focus later shifted to Iran's nuclear program.
Washington launched strikes with Israel on Feb. 28, prompting retaliatory strikes by Tehran against Israel and U.S. bases across the Gulf region.
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