US President Donald Trump said Iran reached out to America, proposing ‘negotiations’, after he threatened action as a reply to a crackdown on protesters in the latter country.
Trump further said that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.
“I think they're tired of being beaten up by the United States and Iran wants to negotiate”, the US President said.
Over 544 people are feared dead in a crackdown on nationwide protests in Iran, the activists say. Meanwhile, Tehran has clearly warned, saying that the US military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.
More than 10,600 people have been detained over the two weeks of protests, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency. It said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces.
The Iranian government has not issued overall casualty figures yet.
The internet is down, and phone lines are cut off in Iran. 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.
US President Donald Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran, including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the US or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions, speaking on anonymity.
“The military is looking at it, and we're looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters Sunday night. 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.”
The massive ongoing US military deployment to the Caribbean is a factor that the Pentagon and Trump's national security planners must consider.
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, calling it “the occupied territory".
“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,” Qalibaf said. “We do not consider ourselves limited to reacting after the action and will act based on any objective signs of a threat.” Lawmakers rushed to the dais in parliament, shouting: “Death to America!”
It remains unclear how serious Iran is about launching a strike, particularly after its air defences were destroyed during the 12-day war in June with Israel. Any decision to go to war would rest with Iran's 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The US military has said in the Mideast it is “postured with forces that span the full range of combat capability to defend our forces, our partners and allies and US interests.”
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