Death toll rises as Trump considers military action
Dubai: Nationwide protests challenging Iran’s theocracy reached two weeks on Sunday, with the death toll in violence surrounding the demonstrations reaching at least 116 people, activists said.
US President Donald Trump has been presented with military options for attacking Iran, but no final decision has been made yet. New York Times And Wall Street Magazine.
Trump posted on social media: “Iran is looking at FREEDOM perhaps like never before. USA is ready to help!!!”
The State Department also warned: “Do not play games with President Trump. When he says he will do something, he means it.”
New York Times The report notes that Trump is seriously considering authorizing an attack in response to the Iranian regime’s efforts to suppress the demonstrations, and that among the options presented to him are demilitarized zones in Tehran.
With the internet shut down and phone lines cut in Iran, it has become more difficult to gauge demonstrations from abroad. However, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, the number of deaths in the protests has risen to at least 116 and more than 2,600 people have been detained. The agency acted accurately in many previous incidents of unrest in Iran.
Iranian state television increasingly covers casualties of security forces while giving the image of control over the country, without mentioning dead demonstrators whom it calls “terrorists”. But it was also acknowledged that the protests continued until Sunday (Iran time), with demonstrations in Tehran and the northeastern holy city of Mashhad.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei signaled the impending crackdown despite US warnings. Iran’s attorney general, Mohammad Movahedi Azad, warned that anyone who participated in the protests or “aided the rebels” would be considered an “enemy of God” and punished with the death penalty.
“Trials must be conducted without leniency, mercy or tolerance,” he said.
The demonstrations began on December 28, when the Iranian rial currency, traded at over 1.4 million, fell to 1 US dollar as the country’s economy remained under pressure in part due to international sanctions imposed over its nuclear program.
Iran’s exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi appealed to demonstrators last week to take to the streets, urging them to carry Iran’s ancient lion and sun flag and other national symbols used under the Shah.
State television and news agencies reported that so-called protesters chanted “Death to Khamenei!” He published a video in which he opened fire on the security forces, chanting slogans. and stabbed the security guards.
Concerns are growing that shutting down the internet would allow Iranian security forces to engage in a bloody crackdown as they have in the past. Security forces killed hundreds of people at a protest in 2019, “so we can only fear the worst,” said Ali Rahmani, son of Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi, who is imprisoned in Iran.
