'Inappropriate to say': Trump may still be considering CIA-led uprising in Iran

'Inappropriate to say': Trump may still be considering CIA-led uprising in Iran US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said it "wouldn't be appropriate to say" if he would greenlight the CIA arming Iranians to encourage a violent uprising, a day after he asked on his TruthSocial account, "When are the Iranian people going to rise up and fight?

" Trump was taking unscheduled questions in the Oval Office, after the US unleashed a barrage of strikes on Iran's southern coast on Tuesday, killing 18 people, including two children at a wedding.

"Will you send the CIA in to arm Iranians? " a reporter asked the president.

"I'd love to tell you that, but it wouldn't be appropriate to say," Trump responded. "But I mean, I understand their plight.

They're being shot... They have close to 65,000 protesters killed.

" It remains unclear where that figure is sourced, given Trump has previously floated figures between 25,000 and 80,000 during the anti-government protests in Iran early this year.

Iran's own figure is about 3,800 killed.

Read more: 'Inappropriate to say': Trump may still be considering CIA-led uprising in Iran An injured victim lies in a hospital bed, following a US attack on a wedding, near Sirik, a coastal area on the Strait of Hormuz, in Hormozgan province, Iran, on 2 September 2026 (Razieh Poudat/ISNA/via West Asia News Agency via Reuters)