US President Donald Trump said Friday that Washington will “hit Iran very, very hard where it hurts” if the Islamic Republic kills people protesting against the regime.

Trump has made variations of this threat several times since the protests started 13 days ago — at least 51 protesters have been killed since the start of the demonstrations, according to the Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights group.

“Iran is in big trouble. It looks to me that the people are taking over certain cities that nobody thought were really possible just a few weeks ago,” Trump told reporters in the White House when asked about the protests. “We’re watching the situation very carefully.”

“I’ve made the statement very strongly that if they start killing people like they have in the past, we will get involved… That doesn’t mean boots on the ground, but it means hitting them very, very hard where it hurts. We don’t want that to happen,” he continued.

“This is something pretty incredible that’s happening in Iran… They’ve done a bad job. They’ve treated their people........

© The Times of Israel