US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that Washington is closely monitoring the deadly protests in Iran and weighing potential military retaliation, adding that he has been briefed in recent days on a range of intervention options. When asked how the United States would respond if Iran were to strike American military bases, Trump said, “we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said Iran appeared to be approaching the red line he had set over the treatment of protesters, adding, “they’re starting to, it looks like.”When asked if he thinks that Iran takes his threats seriously, a visually agitated Trump responded, “wouldn’t you say that they probably do at this point, after going through it for years with me?… Soleimani, al-Baghdadi, the Iran nuclear threat wiped out… What a stupid question.”Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian had earlier accused the United States and Israel of attempting to destabilise Iran by fomenting unrest. While pledging that the government would hear public grievances, he warned against violent protesters, urging Iranians to stay away from “rioters and terrorists”. Israel, meanwhile, said it is closely monitoring tensions between the US and Iran, an official said, noting that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held overnight talks with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to discuss the situation, as cited by AP.
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Meanwhile, the UN’s Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Sunday urged Iran to restore internet and mobile communications immediately and to end the violent suppression of the protests.
Here are the top developments
- US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that Iran’s leaders have reached out to seek negotiations, suggesting they were under pressure from the United States. “We may meet with them; a meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what is happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up,” Trump said.
- The US president also said that Washington is considering “very strong options” for retaliation. “There seem to be some people killed that aren’t supposed to be killed. These are violent, if you call them leaders. I don’t know if their leaders are just ruling through violence, but we’re looking at it very seriously,” Trump told reporters, as cited by CNN.
- Trump also said he plans to speak with Elon Musk about restoring internet access in Iran, where authorities have imposed a four-day blackout amid ongoing anti-government protests. “He’s very good at that kind of thing, he’s got a very good company,” Trump told reporters in response to a question about engaging with Musk’s SpaceX-run Starlink satellite internet service, as cited by Reuters.
- Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei shared a cartoon on X portraying Trump as a crumbling sarcophagus, accompanied by the message, “this one too will be overthrown.” The image depicts Trump as an ancient Egyptian-style coffin marked with the US flag and the Great Seal, cracking apart inside a tomb with the caption, “Like Pharaoh.”
- The UN’s Independent International Fact-Finding Mission urged the Iranian authorities to restore internet and mobile communications with immediate effect and to put an end to the violent crackdown on the nationwide protests. In its report, the mission said that, based on “credible information,” Iran’s Supreme National Security Council had instructed security forces to carry out a “decisive” and “unrestrained” crackdown to suppress the demonstrations.
- At least 544 people have been killed since the protests started, with the toll expected to rise, activists said on Sunday. More than 10,600 people have been detained over the past two weeks, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency. The group said 496 of those killed were protesters, while 48 were members of the security forces.
- Hospitals across Iran are undergoing a massive strain as protests escalate, with medical workers reporting a surge of wounded and dead following the crackdown. Emergency services in several provinces, including Tehran, described “bodies piled on top of one another.” Doctors described how overcrowded corridors, overwhelmed emergency rooms and full morgues have made even basic treatment difficult.
Also read: Iran wants to ‘negotiate’ with US? Trump makes fresh claim as protests intensify
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