Hundreds of protesters have been killed and thousands have been arrested after the nation’s regime launched a bloody crackdown in response to protests.
The US-based Human Rights Activist News Agency has said 490 demonstrators and 48 security personnel have been killed so far, with more than 10,600 people arrested in two weeks of unrest.
Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi claimed on Monday that ‘the situation has come under total control’, but offered no evidence for his claim.
In response, President Donald Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran.
‘The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,’ Trump told reporters on Air Force One.
Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: ‘If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.’
Anonymous sources have told news agencies that this could include cyber-attacks and direct strikes by the US or Israel.
Trump’s administration is in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but the President appeared to signal he would have to act first as the death toll in Iran mounts and the government continues to arrest protesters.
‘I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,’ Trump added. ‘Iran wants to negotiate.
‘The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate.’
Tehran has warned that the US military and Israel would be ‘legitimate targets’ if America uses force to protect demonstrators.
With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult.
The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.
Protesters flooded the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning.
Online videos purported to show more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.
The threat to strike the US military and Israel came during a parliamentary speech by Mohammad Baagher Qalibaf, the hardliner speaker of the body who has run for the presidency in the past.
He directly threatened Israel, remarking: ‘In the event of an attack on Iran, both the occupied territory and all American military centres, bases and ships in the region will be our legitimate targets.
‘We do not consider ourselves limited to reacting after the action and will act based on any objective signs of a threat.’
Politicians rushed to the dais in parliament, shouting: ‘Death to America!’
Any decision to go to war would rest with Iran’s 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Israel, meanwhile, is ‘watching closely’ the situation between the US and Iran, said an Israeli official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to not being authorised to speak to journalists.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].
For more stories like this, check our news page.
