Trump weighs tough response to Iran protest crackdown
Jana Choukeir, Nayera Abdallah and Tala Ramadan |
Iran says it is keeping communications open with the US as President Donald Trump weighs responses to a violent crackdown on protests that have posed one of the biggest challenges to clerical rule since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Trump said on Sunday the US might meet Iranian officials and that he was in contact with the opposition, while piling pressure on the Islamic Republic’s leaders, including threatening possible military action in response to violence against protesters.
Iran has weathered past waves of protests with crackdowns like the current bloody suppression.
But this time the leadership is facing nationwide demonstrations that evolved from complaints about dire economic hardships to defiant calls for the fall of the clerical establishment.
“The communication channel between our Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and the US special envoy (Steve Witkoff) is open and messages are exchanged whenever necessary,” foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday.
Contacts also remain open through traditional intermediary Switzerland, he said.
“They (US) touched upon some cases, ideas were brought up and in general … the Islamic Republic is a country that never left the negotiating table,” Baghaei said.
However, he said “contradictory messages” from the US showed a lack of seriousness and were not convincing.
Araqchi reiterated in a briefing to foreign ambassadors in Tehran that the Islamic Republic was ready for war but also open to dialogue.
US-based rights group HRANA said it had verified the deaths of 490 protesters and 48 security personnel, with more than 10,600 people arrested since the protests began on December 28.
Iran has not given an official toll and Reuters was unable to independently verify the tallies.
The flow of information from Iran has been hampered by an internet blackout since Thursday.
Trump said on Sunday Iran had called to negotiate on its nuclear program. Israel and the US bombed Iranian nuclear sites in a 12-day war in June.
“Iran wants to negotiate, yes. We might 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. Iran called, they want to negotiate,” he told reporters on Air Force One.
Trump was to meet with senior advisers on Tuesday to discuss options for Iran, a US official told Reuters.
The Wall Street Journal reported options included military strikes, using secret cyber weapons, widening sanctions and providing online help to anti-government sources.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf warned Washington against “a miscalculation”.
“Let us be clear: in the case of an attack on Iran, the occupied territories (Israel) as well as all US bases and ships will be our legitimate target,” Qalibaf said.
Tehran is still recovering from l2025’s war, and its regional clout has been much weakened by blows to allies such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah since the October 7, 2023, attacks against Israel.
Israel also killed top Iranian military commanders in the June war.
Iranian authorities accused the US and Israel of fomenting trouble and called for a nationwide rally on Monday to condemn “terrorist actions led by the United States and Israel”, state media reported.
Araqchi said the situation in Iran was “under total control” after violence linked to protests spiked at the weekend.
He said Trump’s warning against Tehran of action if protests turned bloody had motivated what he called terrorists to target protesters and security forces to invite foreign intervention.
The protests began in response to soaring prices, before turning against the clerical rulers who have governed for more than 45 years.
Iranians have grown increasingly resentful of the powerful Revolutionary Guards, whose business interests including oil and gas, construction and telecommunications are worth billions of dollars.
Footage posted on social media on Saturday from Tehran showed large crowds marching at night, clapping and chanting.
The crowd “has no end nor beginning”, a man is heard saying.
Trump said on Sunday he would talk to Elon Musk about restoring internet access in Iran through his Starlink satellite service.
Araqchi said internet service would be resumed in co-ordination with security authorities.
Reuters
