U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran wants to barter with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday the death toll within the nationwide demonstrations rose to not less than 544.
Iran had no direct response to Trump’s comments, which got here after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also stays unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, talking to foreign diplomats in Tehran, insisted “the situation has come under total control” in fiery remarks that blamed Israel and the U.S. for the violence, without offering evidence.
“That’s why the demonstrations turned violent and bloody to present an excuse to the American president to intervene,” Araghchi said, in comments carried by the Qatar-funded Al Jazeera satellite news network. Al Jazeera has been allowed to report from contained in the country live despite the web being shut off.
Nevertheless, Araghchi said Iran was “open to diplomacy.” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said a channel to the U.S. remained open, but talks needed to be “based on the acceptance of mutual interests and concerns, not a negotiation that’s one-sided, unilateral and based on dictation.”
Meanwhile Monday, Iran drew tens of hundreds of pro-government demonstrators to move to the streets in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly difficult the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the group, which appeared to number within the tens of hundreds, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”
Others cried out: “Death to the enemies of God!” Iran’s attorney general has said prosecutors will levy such charges against protesters, which carry the death penalty.
Trump acknowledges proposal
Trump and his national security team have been weighing a variety of potential responses against Iran, including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the U.S. or Israel, in response to two people aware of internal White House discussions who weren’t authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
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“The military is it, and we’re some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night. Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “In the event that they do this, we’ll hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”
Trump said that his administration was in talks to establish a gathering with Tehran, but cautioned that he can have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the federal government continues to arrest protesters.
“I believe they’re uninterested in being beat up by the US,” Trump said. “Iran wants to barter.”
He added: “The meeting is being arrange, but we can have to act due to what’s happening before the meeting. But a gathering is being arrange. Iran called, they need to negotiate.”
Iran, through the country’s parliamentary speaker, warned Sunday that the U.S. military and Israel can be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to guard demonstrators.
Greater than 10,600 people even have been detained over the 2 weeks of protests, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest lately and gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information. It said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces.
With the web down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown tougher. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.
Those abroad fear the knowledge blackout is emboldening hard-liners inside Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown. Protesters flooded the streets within the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Online videos purported to indicate more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.
At 2 p.m. Monday, Iranian state TV showed images of demonstrators thronging Tehran toward Enghelab Square, or “Islamic Revolution” Square within the capital. It had been airing statements all morning from Iranian government, security and non secular leaders to attend the demonstration.
It called the rally an “Iranian rebellion against American-Zionist terrorism,” without addressing the underlying anger within the country over the nation’s ailing economy. State TV aired images of such demonstrations across the country, attempting to signal it had overcome the protests.
In Tehran, a witness told the AP that the streets of the capital empty on the sunset call to prayers each night. By the Isha, or nighttime prayer, the streets are deserted.
A part of that stems from the fear of getting caught within the crackdown. Police sent the general public a text message that warned: “Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to handle their youth and teenagers.”
One other text, which claimed to return from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to participate in demonstrations.
“Dear parents, in view of the enemy’s plan to extend the extent of naked violence and the choice to kill people, … refrain from being on the streets and gathering in places involved in violence, and inform your kids about the implications of cooperating with terrorist mercenaries, which is an example of treason against the country,” the text warned.
The witness spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity on account of the continued crackdown.
The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, because the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions partly levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly difficult Iran’s theocracy.