President Donald Trump warned on Wednesday that time is running out for Iran to come to the table and avoid US military action, prompting Tehran to retort that it would respond to any attack “like never before”.
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As Trump issued another threat, his top diplomat Marco Rubio said the Iranian leadership was at its weakest ever point and Germany’s leader Friedrich Merz predicted the Islamic republic’s “days are numbered” after this month’s deadly crackdown on anti-government protests.
Trump has not ruled out an attack after the protests that began in late December and peaked on January 8 and 9, in which a rights group said more than 6,200 people were killed.
In June last year the US carried out strikes on Iranian nuclear sites during Israel’s 12-day war against the Islamic republic.
In his latest post on Truth Social, Trump did not mention the protests but said Iran needed to negotiate a deal over its nuclear programme, which the West believes is aimed at making an atomic bomb.
“Hopefully Iran will quickly ‘Come to the Table’ and negotiate a fair and equitable deal — NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS — one that is good for all parties. Time is running out, it is truly of the essence!” said Trump.
“The next attack will be far worse! Don’t make that happen again,” he added, referring to American strikes against Iranian targets during the June war.
A US naval strike group that Trump described as an “armada” led by aircraft carrier the USS Abraham Lincoln is now lurking in Middle East waters.
In response to Trump, Iran’s mission to the United Nations posted a screenshot of his threat on X and wrote: “Iran stands ready for dialogue based on mutual respect and interests – BUT IF PUSHED, IT WILL DEFEND ITSELF AND RESPOND LIKE NEVER BEFORE!”
Germany’s Merz suggested it could be only a “matter of weeks” until the Iranian government was no longer in charge of the country.
“A regime that can only hold onto power through sheer violence and terror against its own population: its days are numbered,” he said at a press conference.
His comments came as Rubio told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday that Tehran was threatened by its inability to address the fact “that their economy is in collapse”, calling it the root of the protests.
‘Severe damage’
Analysts say US options include strikes on military facilities or targeted hits against the leadership under Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a full-scale bid to bring down the system that has ruled Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution that ousted the shah.
Before Trump’s comments were published, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said “conducting diplomacy through military threat cannot be effective or useful”.
In televised comments, Araghchi said he had “no contact” with US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff in recent days and that Tehran had “not sought negotiations”.
Iranian armed forces chief of staff Habibollah Sayyari warned the US against any “miscalculation”, saying that “they too would suffer damage”.
Following a call on Tuesday between Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and de facto Saudi leader Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Iran reached out to other US allies in the region.
The Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Larijani spoke with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who is also foreign minister, both sides said.
Sheikh Mohammed emphasised Qatar’s support for “all efforts aimed at reducing escalation and achieving peaceful solutions”, the Qatari foreign ministry said.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty meanwhile held separate calls with both Araghchi and Witkoff, and stressed the need to “work towards deescalation”, the Egyptian foreign ministry said.
Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told Al-Jazeera television: “It’s wrong to attack Iran. It’s wrong to start the war again.” He urged Washington to reopen talks on the nuclear standoff.
‘New dimensions of crackdown’
In an updated toll, the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said it had confirmed that 6,221 people had been killed, including 5,856 protesters, 100 minors, 214 members of the security forces and 49 bystanders.
But the group added it was still investigating another 17,091 possible fatalities. At least 42,324 people have been arrested, it said.
HRANA warned that security forces were searching hospitals for wounded protesters, saying this highlighted “new dimensions of the continued security crackdown”.
HRANA said a trial in Malard outside Tehran on Tuesday of a man accused over the death of a police officer was the first such hearing linked to the protests.
It was a “starting point for a broad series of trials” that would be “aimed at imposing severe penalties on protesters”, HRANA said.
Meanwhile, Iran on Wednesday executed a man arrested last year on charges of spying for Israel’s Mossad spy agency, the judiciary said.
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