Ted Cruz urges US to arm Iranian protesters as militias threaten ‘total war’ against America
Sen. Ted Cruz called for the U.S. to arm Iranian protesters Tuesday as unrest continues inside the nation and Iran-backed militias issued threats against Washington.
“We should be arming the protesters in Iran. NOW,” Cruz wrote in a post on X.
“For the Iranian people to overthrow the Ayatollah — a tyrant who routinely chants ‘death to America’ — would make America much, much safer,” the Texas Republican added.
Cruz was responding to another post from Tehran Bureau, which cited a source inside Iran detailing what was described as a rapidly deteriorating situation on the ground as security forces continued to crack down on demonstrations.
IRAN WILL RETALIATE ‘WITH EVERYTHING WE HAVE’ IF US ATTACKS, SENIOR DIPLOMAT WARNS
“From trusted source in Tehran: Tell all of your friends [abroad] — everyone you know: there is absolutely nothing else we can do here inside Iran,” the post read.
“They are killing people in such ways, they’ve descended upon people so brutally, they’re attacking us in such ways… We’ve lost so many lives that no one dares go out anymore. They shoot directly with bullets. They kill outright. And even after killing, they come and behead you, and do countless other violent things to you,” it continued.
“Going out into the streets is literally suicide. It’s not about bravery anymore. It’s madness. You go out and they shoot you point-blank. They don’t even ask why you came. They just kill you,” the post continued. “There is absolutely no way for us to gather unless we had weapons, unless we were armed like them. Otherwise they have weapons everywhere.”
According to the Human Rights Activists News Agency, activist groups estimate that more than 6,000 people have been killed in Iran, with additional cases still under review.
The protests began in late December amid widespread anger over economic hardship, political repression and corruption, according to reports.
IRAN REGIME REPORTEDLY ISSUED NATIONWIDE SHOOT-TO-KILL ORDERS AS PROTEST DEATH TOLL SURGES
Cruz’s post came after armed militias aligned with Iran warned the U.S. they would retaliate against any American attack on the Islamic Republic, as the Trump administration moved forces into the region.
Kataib Hezbollah in Iraq said it was prepared for “total war” if the U.S. attacked Iran, according to The Associated Press.
Abu Hussein al-Hamidawi, the group’s leader, said the “enemies” of the Islamic Republic would face “the bitterest forms of death.”
IRAN’S SUPREME LEADER ACKNOWLEDGES THOUSANDS KILLED AS TRUMP CALLS FOR NEW LEADERSHIP: REPORTS
“You will taste every form of deadly suffering, nothing of you will remain in our region, and we will strike terror in your hearts,” the statement read.
Meanwhile, Yemen’s Houthis also threatened to restart attacks on vessels in the Red Sea, releasing a video Monday showing a ship engulfed in flames, captioned: “Soon,” The Associated Press reported.
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As previously reported by Fox News Digital, President Donald Trump said Iran appeared to be seeking negotiations with the U.S. amid the growing military buildup, telling Axios, “They want to make a deal. I know so. They called on numerous occasions. They want to talk.”
The USS Abraham Lincoln arrived in the Middle East on Monday as unrest inside Iran continued to escalate.
Fox News Digital has reached out to Sen. Ted Cruz for comment.
US deports 3 former Iranian Guard members amid rising tensions with Tehran
FIRST ON FOX: The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) deported three Iranian nationals known or suspected of terrorism Sunday.
Homeland Security said the three nationals — Ehsan Khaledi, Mohammad Mehrani and Morteza Nasirikakolaki — were former members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
They were among 14 Iranians on board a deportation flight Sunday, the first to head back to Tehran, Iran, since sweeping anti-government protests triggered a deadly government crackdown.
Both Mehrani and Khaledi entered the U.S. illegally in Southern California in 2024, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Nasirikakolaki entered illegally in November 2024, when he was encountered by Border Patrol near San Luis, Arizona, the agency said.
IRAN PROTESTS PROMPT NEW TRUMP WARNING OVER DEADLY GOVERNMENT CRACKDOWNS
The White House insisted that anyone deported had “Executable Final Orders, meaning a federal judge has ordered their removal from the United States.”
Since the start of the Trump administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has arrested 1,400 known or suspected terrorists, the Department of Homeland Security said, and 7,400 gang members.
The Iranian deportation flight drew attention due to reports of human rights abuses associated with the protests. Two unlawful migrants scheduled to be on the flight were gay men, and their lawyer, Bekah Wolf, had warned they stood “an extremely high chance” of being executed if they returned.
TOP IRAN PRAYER LEADER WHO DUBBED PROTESTERS ‘TRUMP’S SOLDIERS’ CALLS FOR EXECUTIONS AMID ONGOING UNREST
But the men were moved into quarantine due to measles exposure and were not on the flight.
Sunday’s deportation was the third flight returning Iranian nationals to their home country since September 2025. The previous two flights were believed to have at least 55 people on them.
The IRGC is Iran’s elite military force, separate from the country’s regular army and reporting directly to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. U.S. officials have designated the IRGC a foreign terrorist organization, citing its long history of involvement in terrorist activity, support for extremist proxies such as Hezbollah and Hamas and plots against U.S. personnel and interests worldwide.
Through its Quds Force, the IRGC provides training, funding and weapons to militant groups and has been linked to assassination plots, attacks on U.S. forces and allies and other covert operations that Washington says threaten American national security and regional stability.
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Tensions between the U.S. and Iran have climbed sharply in recent weeks as President Donald Trump has publicly kept the option of military action on the table amid Iran’s deadly crackdown on nationwide protests, warning Tehran that the United States could respond if executions or mass killings continued.
The Human Rights Activists News Agency estimates that nearly 6,000 people have been killed since protests broke out at the start of 2026. Meanwhile, the U.S. is building up its U.S. naval and air force presence near Iran, including with the arrival of the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group to the region.
Iranian security forces gun down amateur boxer near Tehran: source
An Iranian amateur boxer has been shot and killed by Iranian security forces during ongoing anti-regime protests.
Sepehr Ebrahimi joined protests near Tehran and died amid ongoing demonstrations driven by anger over political repression, economic hardship, and human rights violations.
Ebrahimi’s death also renewed attention on the case of another Iranian boxer, Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani, who is currently on death row.
Vafaei Sani, now 30, is a champion boxer who was arrested in 2020 for participating in nationwide pro-democracy protests.
Iranian authorities accused him of supporting the opposition group the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (MEK).
IRAN LOCKS NATION INTO ‘DARKER’ DIGITAL BLACKOUT, VIEWING INTERNET AS AN ‘EXISTENTIAL THREAT’
Meanwhile, harrowing footage has also been circulating online showing the distraught father of another youth, Sepehr Shekari who was also shot by security forces.
The video shows Shekari’s father desperately searching among piles of bodies covered with black body bags, crying out for his missing son.
“Sepehr was shot and killed in Tehran,” Ali Safavi, a senior official with the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), told Fox News Digital.
Video shared on social media, which was viewed by Fox News Digital, shows Shekari’s father calling out his son’s name as he searches a warehouse filled with unidentified bodies following a violent crackdown on demonstrators.
KHAMENEI CALLS TRUMP A ‘CRIMINAL,’ BLAMES HIM FOR DEADLY PROTESTS SWEEPING IRAN
“My dear Sepehr, where are you?” the father can be heard crying. At one point, he shouts, “Damn Khamenei. They have killed the children of so many people. You killed so many young people!”
According to Safavi, Ebrahimi and Shekari were shot with live ammunition by Iran’s security forces during protests against the clerical regime that began Dec. 28.
Shekari’s family spent an agonizing week searching through morgues, hospitals and detention facilities before finally identifying his body among piles of corpses, also shown in the viral footage.
Maryam Rajavi, NCRI president-elect also shared a post on X dedicated to parents of those murdered by the regime. “You are not alone,” she wrote, “Every heart beats with you,” she added.
IRANIAN SOLDIER SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR REFUSING TO FIRE ON PROTESTERS DURING NATIONWIDE UNREST
Rights organizations also continue to highlight the plight of Vafaei Sani who has spent five years in prison, during which he has reportedly been tortured and held in prolonged solitary confinement.
In 2023, more than 100 human rights experts and international organizations sent a letter to U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, urging urgent intervention to stop Vafaei Sani’s execution.
His death sentence echoes the case of Iranian wrestling champion Navid Afkari, who was executed in September 2020.
The death of Ebrahimi and others comes as Iran’s protest-related death toll continues to rise.
According to the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), at least 6,126 people have been killed since the start of the latest wave of protests.
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HRANA also reported that 214 government-affiliated forces and 49 civilians have also been killed, while more than 17,000 deaths remain under investigation.
North Korea launches short-range ballistic missiles into sea, show of force ahead of political meetings
North Korea is flexing its muscles and firing short-range ballistic missiles toward its waters ahead of a major political meeting.
South Korea‘s military detected the launches of several ballistic missiles from an area northeast of Pyongyang, North Korea, adding that each missile flew approximately 217 miles, The Associated Press reported.
Meanwhile, the Japanese Defense Ministry said that two ballistic missiles launched from North Korea and landed off the coast of the Korean Peninsula, according to the AP.
These launches represent the first time North Korea fired weapons since testing hypersonic missiles in early January, the AP noted. In December, the country tested long-range strategic cruise missiles and new anti-air missiles and released photos of the apparent construction of a nuclear-powered submarine, which would be the first of its kind for Pyongyang, the AP reported.
NORTH KOREA TEST-LAUNCHES HYPERSONIC MISSILE SYSTEM IN FRONT OF KIM, NATION SAYS
The missile launches come as the ruling party prepares to hold its first full congress in five years, according to the AP, which cited state media. So far, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has met with other top officials to prepare for the meeting. The top-level meeting will reportedly be used to set new political and economic priorities as the U.S. and South Korea seek renewed talks with North Korea.
NORTH KOREA RELEASES IMAGES OF DEVELOPMENT OF NUCLEAR-POWERED SUBMARINE
The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), which is controlled by the North Korean government, reported in December that Kim presided over a plenary meeting of the Workers Party’s Central Committee in which participants discussed issues related to the party congress and this year’s state policies, the AP reported. The outlet noted that Kim revived the congress in 2016 after a 36-year hiatus.
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Additionally, North Korea recently accused South Korea of carrying out surveillance drone flights across the border. Seoul has denied operating drones during the times Pyongyang specified and said it began investigating the possibility that civilians sent them.
Trump says Iran called ‘numerous’ times to make deal as carrier enters Middle East waters
President Donald Trump said Iran appears to be looking to negotiate with the U.S. amid a growing military buildup in the Middle East.
In a Monday interview with Axios, Trump suggested that Tehran had reached out on “numerous occasions” and “want[s] to make a deal.”
“They want to make a deal. I know so. They called on numerous occasions. They want to talk,” the president told the outlet.
According to U.S. officials, also cited by Axios, any potential agreement would need Tehran to remove all enriched uranium, cap its long-range missile stockpile, a change in support for regional proxy forces, and cease independent uranium enrichment, terms Iranian leaders have not agreed to.
ISRAELI UN AMBASSADOR SENDS STARK WARNING TO IRAN AMID GROWING UNREST
Trump also described the situation with Iran as “in flux,” and pointed to the arrival of what he called “a big armada next to Iran. Bigger than Venezuela,” referencing the recent deployment of U.S. naval assets.
As previously reported by Fox News Digital, the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier entered CENTCOM waters in the Indian Ocean on Monday amid increasing threats from Iran, a senior U.S. official said.
Trump had told reporters Jan. 21, “We have a big flotilla going in that direction, and we’ll see what happens. We have a big force going towards Iran. I’d rather not see anything happen, but we’re watching them very closely.”
The U.S. military buildup comes amid widespread unrest inside Iran following protests that began Dec. 28.
SECRET SERVICE AWARE AFTER IRANIAN STATE TV AIRS TRUMP THREAT FEATURING PHOTO OF BUTLER ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT
According to a recent report from Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), the confirmed death toll from the protests has reached 5,848, with an additional 17,091 deaths under investigation.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been sheltering in a fortified underground facility, according to Iran International.
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Trump is expected to hold further consultations this week, Axios said, before adding that White House officials said an attack is still on the table.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment.