Reacting to reports that 40,000 have been shot dead or executed in recent weeks, Dr. Hormoz Shariat told the “Washington Watch” program all of those tragic deaths will be pointless if President Donald Trump fails to act.
“They're saying if the U.S. government doesn't come to their help, this killing will continue,” he warned. “It will continue by tens of thousands.”
The street protests that began in late December, which had grown massive by mid-January, hinted at a first taste of freedom for Iranians and an end to the murderous Guardian Council led by Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Instead, according to Shariat, the situation now looks “very desperate” across Iran where the population is unarmed against a government that is shooting wounded protesters in hospitals.
“Those who have been shot, and are not dead, they kill them in the hospitals while the nurses and doctors are watching. And they cannot speak up,” Shariat shared.
Shariat, whose family fled Iran in 1979 when the Shah was deposed, later planted a church in California with other Muslim converts. His current ministry Iran Alive uses satellite TV to reach Iran, home to two million Christians, with biblical programming.
Shariat was describing reports of hospital killings, shared with him from sources in Iran, at about the same time President Trump was bragging a U.S. “armada” was steaming toward Iran under his orders.
Trump was referring to the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and its strike group. That armada, which departed the South China Sea on Jan. 15, arrived in the Indian Ocean on Monday which put it under control of CENTCOM, U.S. Central Command.
Trump has sent mixed signals to the ayatollahs and the protesters for weeks. After stating that Iran’s regime was crossing red lines by killing protesters, Trump went even farther when he assured “IRANIAN PATRIOTS” that “help is on its way” in a Jan. 15 social media post.
Over the last week, with the naval strike group headed to the Middle East, Trump also praised Khamenei for pledging to not execute 800 arrested protesters. The regime later rejected Trump’s claim, calling it “completely false” and vowing the executions will be carried out.
In a Monday interview with Axios, Trump said the Khamenei regime wants to negotiate with the Trump administration and “make a deal” to remain in power. “They called on numerous occasions. They want to talk," the president told Axios.
Shariat said the Iranian people haven’t forgotten President Trump’s support for the protests and his promise that help is coming.
“So people went on the streets. Thousands of them were killed,” he said. “And now they're saying, ‘President Trump, fulfill your promise.’”
