<\/p>\n
JERUSALEM, Israel\u00a0\u2013 Now in its 17th day, the fight continues by millions of Iranians to overthrow the Islamic Republic of Iran. Protesters are calling out\u00a0for the West to help, and especially, President Trump.<\/p>\n
Despite a nearly total Internet blackout for days, foreign militias enlisted to fight the protesters, and live ammunition on the streets, Iranians continue to fill cities throughout Iran, such as Isfahan and Tehran, with their cry for freedom and a plea to the West.<\/p>\n
Activists say the death toll from the nationwide protests has spiked to at least 2,000 people killed. The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency reports\u00a01,847 protesters have been killed over the past few weeks,\u00a0and 135 government-affiliated people have died as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Juliana Taimoorazy, founder and president of the Iraqi Christian Relief Council, described the cry of the protesters: “Please come and help us. The next few hours are critical. Their eyes are on Israel. Their eyes are on America. They’re begging, they’re pleading with us to assist.”<\/p>\n
Most protesters are looking for that assistance from President Trump. On Monday, the president imposed a 25-percent tariff on nations that trade with Iran, with more options on the table.<\/p>\n
He is scheduled to meet with advisors on Tuesday to determine\u00a0the next steps for the U.S. after the State Department issued a warning for Americans in Iran to “leave now.”<\/p>\n
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt explained, “Diplomacy is always the first option for the president. He’s told all of you last night that what you’re hearing publicly from the Iranian regime is quite different from the messages the administration is receiving privately, and I think the president has an interest in exploring those messages. However, with that said, the president has shown he’s unafraid to use military options, if and when he deems necessary. And nobody knows that better than Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n
***Please sign up for\u00a0<\/em>CBN Newsletters\u00a0and download the\u00a0<\/em>CBN News app\u00a0to receive the latest news from a distinctly Christian perspective.***<\/em><\/p>\n Iran claims it is ready for talks with the U.S. based on “mutual respect,” but some warn that the regime is simply buying time to brutally crush the protests. Reports from inside the country indicate that the death toll is staggering.<\/p>\n Iranian-American journalist Karmel Melamed told\u00a0CBN News,\u00a0<\/em>“My sources have been telling me it’s a slaughterhouse. There are rivers of blood. That’s what my source has been telling me, in Tehran alone,” he said, and added, “A lot of regime forces have been perched on top of buildings, and in many cases, mowing down people from above. Snipers from inside of buildings have been shooting protesters.”<\/p>\n The mosques, Melamed reports, have become flashpoints.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re targeting the mosques and some of these Islamic centers because the regime and the IRGC thugs are using them as bases of operation, command and control,” he observed. “And the protesters are saying, ‘No, we\u2019re not going to allow the regime to use these sites to focus their attacks on them, we\u2019re going to firebomb them. We\u2019re going to set them ablaze. We\u2019re not\u00a0\u2013 this is full-on war by the people against the regime.'”<\/p>\n Melamed believes the war is escalating.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the last four days, the protests have gotten even more intense. There were thousands in the streets.\u00a0 Based on the videos that I\u2019ve seen, the protests have grown into the millions. In Tehran, Mashhad, Kameshar, Hamadan, Isfahan, all the major cities. Literally millions pouring into the streets,” he stated.<\/p>\n Melamed continued, “People are saying, ‘This is it.\u00a0We\u2019re at the end of the rope.\u00a0We\u2019re at the end of the line.’\u00a0And the question I keep getting from folks in Iran is, ‘President Trump, so you said you\u2019re going to come and help us, where are you?\u00a0 We\u2019re getting slaughtered.\u00a0 Where is America?\u00a0 Where is Israel?'”<\/p>\n Despite the perils, the protesters say this is the final battle, according to Melamed.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of hope,” he reported. “They\u2019re saying, ‘We\u2019re not giving up.\u00a0 We\u2019ve got nothing to lose.\u00a0 They\u2019ve got a finite number of bullets, but our numbers of people are way higher.’\u00a0 There\u2019s 90 million people in Iran right now.\u00a0 Even if one million or two million continue the protests, it\u2019s game over for the regime; they can\u2019t kill everyone.\u00a0 It\u2019s only a matter of if the U.S., Israel, the West is\u00a0going to step up and stop the slaughter.\u201d<\/p>\n Taimoorazy says this hinge of history for Iran and the Middle East needs prayer.<\/p>\n \u201cWe must pray for the safety of these young men and women who are in prison.\u00a0Pray for the families of the deceased. Pray for those that are brave, that have taken to the streets.\u00a0 We must pray for divine wisdom for Bibi Netanyahu, for the\u00a0European Parliament, for President Trump.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" JERUSALEM, Israel\u00a0\u2013 Now in its 17th day, the fight continues by millions of Iranians to overthrow the Islamic Republic of Iran. Protesters are calling out\u00a0for the West to help, and especially, President Trump. Despite a nearly total Internet blackout for days, foreign militias enlisted to fight the protesters, and live ammunition on the streets, Iranians<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16340,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[744,5075,505,2079,4566,961,1430,214,3587,517],"class_list":{"0":"post-16339","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jesus","8":"tag-battle","9":"tag-committed","10":"tag-dead","11":"tag-final","12":"tag-iranians","13":"tag-military","14":"tag-millions","15":"tag-people","16":"tag-regime","17":"tag-weapons"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16339\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}