President Donald Trump said Friday that if Iran "violently" intervenes with peaceful protests, then the U.S. will "come to their rescue."

Unrest has been growing in Iran since last week, as protests erupted over the government's handling of a sharp fall in the nation's currency and soaring prices. Annual inflation hit 42.2% in December, with food prices jumping 72%. The protests turned violent this week as local media reported the death of at least six civilians.

"If Iran shots and violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue," Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social on Friday.

"We are locked and loaded and ready to go," he added.

Iran's supreme leader adviser Ali Larijani responded by saying that U.S. interference in Iran's protests was equivalent to chaos across the entire region on Friday, in comments reported by Reuters.

Suzanne Maloney, vice president and director of foreign policy at the Brookings Institution, previously said that the Iranian people were calling for not just a fix to the economy, but for regime change. She added that Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been in power for 36 years.

"We're hearing cries of Death to the dictator. We're hearing slogans that juxtapose the regime's support for militia groups across the region with the real interests and demands of the Iranian people," Maloney told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Wednesday.

Iran's economy has struggled since Trump pulled the U.S. out of the Iranian nuclear deal in 2018 and re-imposed sanctions on the country. Last year in June, U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear sites escalated tensions, pulling Washington into Israel's war with its longtime regional rival.

Earlier this week, Trump threatened additional military action against Iran if the country attempts to build up its reserves of ballistic weapons and reestablish its nuclear program.

"Now, I hear that Iran is trying to build up again, and if they are we're going to have to knock them down. We'll knock them down. We'll knock the hell out of them. But hopefully that's not happening," Trump said on Monday.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian responded on Tuesday in a post on X, saying that the response of the Islamic Republic of Iran to any "oppressive aggression will be harsh and regrettable."  

Foreign policy has dominated Trump's schedule in recent weeks. On Tuesday, the U.S. announced sanctions on a group of 10 individuals and entities based in Iran and Venezuela that are allegedly linked to the weapons trade between the two countries.

— CNBC's Justin Papp contributed to this report.