WASHINGTON, JAN 12: US President Donald Trump said on Sunday he was considering potential military action against Iran, amid mounting reports of deadly crackdowns against the country’s mass anti-government protests.
“They’re starting to, it looks like,” Trump said, when asked by reporters aboard Air Force One if Iran had crossed his previously stated red line of protesters being killed.
“We’re looking at it very seriously. The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options. We’ll make a determination,” he said.
He also said that Iran’s leadership had called seeking “to negotiate” after his threats of military action amid mass anti-government protests in the Islamic republic.
“The leaders of Iran called” yesterday, Trump said, adding that “a meeting is being set up… They want to negotiate.”
However, Trump added that “we may have to act before a meeting.”
Trump to meet senior advisers
Trump was to meet with senior advisers on Tuesday to discuss options for Iran, a US official told Reuters on Sunday.
The Wall Street Journal had reported that options included military strikes, using secret cyber weapons, widening sanctions and providing online help to anti-government sources.
Earlier, 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,” said Qalibaf, a former commander in Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards.
Iranian president calls for ‘national resistance march’
The Iranian government declared three days of national mourning for “martyrs” including members of the security forces killed in two weeks of protests, state television reported on Sunday.
The government described the fight against what it has termed “riots” as an “Iranian national resistance battle against America and the Zionist regime”, using the clerical leadership’s term for Israel, which the Islamic republic does not recognise.
President Masoud Pezeshkian urged people to take part in a “national resistance march” of nationwide rallies on Monday to denounce the violence, which the government said was committed by “urban terrorist criminals”, state television reported.
The protests, initially sparked by anger over the rising cost of living, have evolved into a movement against the theocratic system in place in Iran since the 1979 revolution. They have already lasted two weeks.
The protests have become one of the biggest challenges to the rule of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 86, coming in the wake of Israel’s 12-day war against the Islamic republic in June, which was backed by the United States.
Protests have swelled in recent days despite an internet blackout that has lasted more than 72 hours, according to monitor Netblocks. Activists have warned that the shutdown is limiting the flow of information and that the actual toll risks being far higher.
