By Nayera Abdallah and Maayan Lubell
DUBAI/JERUSALEM, Jan 14 (Reuters) – The death toll from unrest in Iran climbed to almost 2,600, a rights group said on Wednesday, as Tehran stepped up diplomatic contacts with U.S.-allies in the region over a crisis that has drawn threats of intervention from President Donald Trump.
According to an Israeli assessment, Trump has decided to intervene but the scope and timing of this action remains unclear, an Israeli official said.
A second Israeli source, a government official, said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet was briefed late on Tuesday about the chances of regime collapse and the chances of U.S. intervention in Iran, an arch-foe with which it fought a 12-day war last year.
The protests which began on December 28 in response to soaring inflation have spiralled into one of the biggest challenges to Iran’s clerical establishment since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
In an interview with CBS News on Tuesday, Trump vowed “very strong action” if Iran started hanging protesters, but didn’t elaborate. “If they hang them, you’re going to see some things,” he said. He also urged Iranians on Tuesday to keep protesting and take over institutions, declaring “help is on the way” but without giving details.
IRAN HOLDS CONTACTS WITH TURKEY, UAE, QATAR
Iranian state media reported that the head of Iran’s top security body, Ali Larijani, had spoken to the foreign minister of Qatar and that Iran’s foreign minister had spoken to his Emirati and Turkish counterparts. The countries are all U.S. allies.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed that “calm has prevailed” and that Iranians were determined to defend their sovereignty and security from any foreign interference, state media reported.
The flow of information from Iran has been hampered by an internet blackout. Holistic Resilience, a U.S. organization that works to expand information access in repressive or closed societies, said on Tuesday that billionaire Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet service was now available for free in Iran.
U.S.-based HRANA rights group said it had so far verified the deaths of 2,403 protesters and 147 government-affiliated individuals. An Iranian official told Reuters on Tuesday that about 2,000 people had been killed.
Iranian authorities have accused the United States and Israel of fomenting the unrest, blaming violence on people it calls terrorists who have attacked security forces, mosques and public property.
IRAN’S CHIEF JUSTICE URGES SWIFT ACTIONS
Visiting a Tehran prison where arrested protesters are being held, Iran’s chief justice said that speed in judging and penalizing those “who beheaded or burned people” was critical to ensuring such events do not happen again.
HRANA reported 18,137 arrests so far.
State TV said that a funeral procession will take place on Wednesday in Tehran for more than 100 civilians and security personnel killed in the unrest.
Hengaw, an Iranian Kurdish rights group, has reported that a 26-year-old man, Erfan Soltani, arrested in connection with protests in the city of Karaj, was to be executed on Wednesday.
Hengaw told Reuters on Wednesday it had not been able to confirm whether Soltani’s sentence had been carried out due to the internet and communications shutdown. Reuters could not independently confirm the report.
Pro-government rallies were held in Iran on Monday, a show of loyalist support for the clerical Iranian establishment. So far, there have been no signs of fracture in the security forces that have quelled other bouts of protest over the years.
While Iranian authorities have weathered previous protests, the latest unrest is taking place with Tehran still recovering from last year’s war and with its regional position weakened by blows to allies such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah since the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attacks against Israel.
Asked what he meant by “help is on its way”, Trump told reporters on Tuesday they would have to figure that out. Trump has said military action is among the options he is weighing to punish Iran over the crackdown.
“The killing looks like it’s significant, but we don’t know yet for certain,” said Trump upon returning to the Washington area from Detroit, adding he would know more after receiving a report on Tuesday evening.
“We’ll act accordingly,” he said.
Trump on Monday announced 25% import tariffs on products from any country doing business with Iran – a major oil exporter.
The U.S. State Department on Tuesday urged American citizens to leave Iran now, including by land through Turkey or Armenia.
In response to Trump’s social media post that “help is on the way,” Iran’s U.N. Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani said the U.S. president was inciting violence, threatening the country’s sovereignty and security and seeking to destabilize the government.
Russia on Tuesday condemned “subversive external interference” in Iran’s internal politics, saying any repeat of last year’s U.S. strikes would have “disastrous consequences” for the Middle East and international security.
(Reporting by Elwely Elwelly and Dubai newsroom, Bo Erickson in Detroit, Susan Heavey, Joey Roulette and Doina Chiacu in Washington, Michelle Nichols at the United Nations, Bhargav Acharya in TorontoWriting by Tom PerryEditing by Peter Graff)
Comments