President Donald Trump declined to confirm on Wednesday whether he would authorize the CIA to arm Iranians to encourage an uprising against the government. When asked directly in the Oval Office if he would send the CIA to arm Iranians, Trump said: "I'd love to tell you that, but it wouldn't be appropriate to say."
The question came a day after Trump posted on his TruthSocial account asking, "When are the Iranian people going to rise up and fight?" It also followed a U.S. military strike on Iran's southern coast on Tuesday that killed 18 people, including two children at a wedding.
Trump said he understood the situation facing Iranians, citing what he described as close to 65,000 protesters killed. The sourcing of that figure was unclear; Trump has previously cited numbers ranging from 25,000 to 80,000 in reference to anti-government protests in Iran earlier this year.
