Trump says US ‘armada’ heading to Middle East as Iran death toll put above 5,000 | Iran

Donald Trump said an American “armada” was advancing on the Middle East and the US was watching Iran closely, as activists put the death toll in Tehran’s crackdown on protesters at 5,002.

Speaking about Air Force One as he returned from the World Economic Forum in Davos at night, he said: “We’ve got a lot of ships heading in that direction, just in case. I wouldn’t want anything to happen, but we’re watching them very closely… we’ve got a navy… going in that direction and maybe we won’t have to use it.”

The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and several guided missile destroyers will arrive in the Middle East in the coming days. Additional air defense systems are likely being deployed around US and Israeli air bases. Britain announced that it would send RAF Eurofighter Typhoon jets from the 12th Fleet to Qatar upon Doha’s request.

A senior Iranian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters on Friday ahead of the arrival of the US aircraft carrier strike group that Iran would treat any attack “as an all-out war against us and we will respond in the harshest way possible.”

The US president backed away from attacking Iran two weeks ago despite promising “help is on the way”; This was largely because he felt that he was presented with no military options that would be decisive in securing regime change in Tehran. Gulf countries also called on him to step back.

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said in an update on Friday that the death toll from Iran’s crackdown on protesters has reached 5,002; Of these, 4,716 are demonstrators, 203 government officials, 43 children and 40 civilians who did not participate in the protests.

The agency’s figures have been accurate in previous unrest in Iran and it relies on a network of activists there to verify deaths. HRANA said at least 26,541 people were arrested.

The protests began when merchants took to the streets in Tehran on December 28 in response to the sudden drop in the value of the rial. As the demands spread, they expanded to include calls for an end to the country’s government, creating the country’s most serious and deadliest unrest since the 1979 revolution.

Speaking at the emergency session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, UN Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said that thousands of people, including children, were killed in the streets and settlements. He said video evidence showed hundreds of people were found in morgues with fatal injuries to their heads and chests, and hundreds of security personnel were also killed.

He called on Iran to “end brutal repression”, including summary trials, and called for a complete moratorium on the use of the death penalty.

Turk this week condemned Iran’s judiciary chief saying there would be no tolerance for thousands of people detained, saying it was a “chilling development”. “I am deeply concerned by contradictory statements from the Iranian authorities about whether those detained in connection with the protests may be executed,” he said, pointing out that Iran “remains among the top executioner states in the world”, with at least 1,500 people reportedly put to death there last year.

Iranian authorities attempted to legitimize the protests by claiming that rioters had infiltrated peaceful protests. “None of these justify resorting to disproportionate use of force or coercing families,” Türk said. Lawyers claimed that 100 of those arrested, including human rights activists, cafe owners, athletes and actors, had coerced confessions and that there was a lack of transparency in the trials.

He said the internet shutdown was the longest recorded blackout in Iran and communications were severely restricted, making it difficult for families to check on the welfare of their loved ones.

Mai Sato, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Iran, requested to be able to visit Iran for a comprehensive investigation. “The Iranian people have shown tremendous courage by telling the truth to power,” he said, and called on the international community to reciprocate.

“Lethal force can only be used as a last resort to protect life and must be lawful, necessary and proportionate. I have received numerous videos showing security forces using lethal force against unarmed protesters.”

The protest movement has largely diminished in the face of crackdowns accompanied by an unprecedented internet blackout, but chants of “death to the dictator” can be heard at acrimonious and often well-attended funerals.

Videos are still circulating from inside Iran, particularly between January 5 and 8, showing security forces being given permission to shoot to kill protesters.

Ham-Mihan, a leading reformist newspaper, was shut down for publishing two stories: one covering the pursuit of protesters in a hospital, the other more fully detailing the seriousness and brutality of the crackdown.

Most leading reformers were unable to express their views on repression, and the few who were allowed to address wider audiences appeared to blame both sides for the collapse of social solidarity caused by the collapse of the exchange rate. It is debated to what extent these problems arise from sanctions or internal inefficiency.

In his longest reflection to date on the violence, reformist Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian, who was elected 18 months ago, claimed that “the civil and justified protest of the people was turned into a bloody and violent war due to the conspiracy of those who wish Iran ill will.”

While in Davos, US treasury secretary Scott Bessent praised the protests, saying US sanctions had caused unrest and that maximum economic sanctions “worked because their economies collapsed in December”.

“We saw a big bank go bankrupt. The central bank started printing money. There is a shortage of dollars. They cannot buy imports, that’s why the people took to the streets. This is an economic state administration, no shootings are opened and things are going very positive here.”

Trump has repeatedly left open the option of new military action against Iran after Washington backed and joined Israel’s 12-day war in June aimed at disrupting Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs. But in recent days, the odds of immediate American action appeared to have diminished, with both sides insisting on giving diplomacy a chance.

Ali Abdullahi Aliabadi, who heads Iran’s Hatem-al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, which coordinates the army and the Revolutionary Guard, warned the United States on Thursday that any military attack on Iran would turn all US bases in the region into “legitimate targets.”