President Donald Trump was meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday to discuss options for intervention in Iran.
More than 500 people have been killed in protests which have swept the country after an economic implosion. Trump last week threatened action if any protesters were hurt.
The Iranian regime initiated contact with the White House over the weekend for new nuclear negotiations, the president told reporters on Air Force One last night.
Politico reports that Trump will hold another meeting tomorrow with Rubio, Hegseth, Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Dan Caine along with other top leaders to weigh options.
Trump cautioned that military action could still come before any diplomatic sit-down if conditions on the ground deteriorate further.
‘A meeting is being set up,’ Trump told reporters, but warned, ‘We may have to act before a meeting.’
Trump confirmed he is receiving hourly intelligence updates as the administration weighs its next move.
Verified video evidence from Sunday shows citizens gathered at the Kahrizak Forensic Centre in Tehran. The footage depicts people standing over long rows of dark body bags.
Since the nationwide demonstrations began on December 28, the US-based human rights organization HRANA reports it has confirmed 544 fatalities.
Donald Trump takes questions from the members of the press aboard Air Force One en route back to the White House on January 11
Bodies lie in body bags on the ground as people stand amid the scene outside Kahrizak Forensic Medical Centre in Tehran, Iran, in this screen capture from a video obtained from social media, January 11
This total reportedly makes up 496 protesters and 48 security officers. The group also notes that 10,681 people have been taken into custody as the unrest has spread across Iran.
Iran hasn’t given an official death toll, but put the blame squarely on ‘Israeli-US interference.’
Iran’s state-run media coverage has so far been on the deaths of its security forces.
‘The communication channel between our Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and the US special envoy (Steve Witkoff) is open and messages are exchanged whenever necessary,’ Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday.
This wave of protests was ignited by an economic implosion that saw the Iranian Rial plunge to a historic low of 1.45 million per US dollar, essentially making their currency near worthless and driving inflation higher than 70%.
The Trump administration claimed that this dismantled a significant amount of the regimes nuclear capabilities at their sites Fordow and Natanz.
The Daily Mail spoke with a few Iranians inside the country during the internet blackout.
Protestors burn images of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a rally held in Solidarity with Iran’s Uprising, organised by The national Council of Resistance of Iran, on Whitehall in central London
In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran
Iranian women lighting her cigarette with a burning photo of Iran’s Supreme leader
Conversations with Iranians during the blackout protests in Iran
Some Iranians were able to connect to the internet through Starlink or other methods for a few minutes
‘The regime is using real guns and bullets… my friend got shot in the stomach. We are hoping for US and Israeli intervention. Without them we cannot succeed,’ an Iranian protestor added
Some were able to connect to the internet through Starlink or other methods for a few minutes.
‘People are fighting on the street with the lion and sun flag. Javid Shah, long live the king, is the main slogan. Hopefully this is the last time,’ one Iranian protestor explained.
‘The regime is using real guns and bullets… my friend got shot in the stomach. We are hoping for US and Israeli intervention. Without them we cannot succeed,’ he added.
Another Iranian tells the Daily Mail that people are being killed with or without weapons. ‘They shut the internet down so that the world can’t see their brutality. We are being murdered by our own government,’ one texted.
Mohammad Ghalibaf, Iran’s speaker of Parliament, put out a statement Sunday saying that any US military action will result in a retaliatory response from Iran.
‘If the United States takes military action, both the occupied territories and US military and shipping lanes will be our legitimate targets,’ Ghalibaf said. ‘Both US and Israeli military bases could be targets,’ he added.
In an effort to reshape the narrative surrounding the recent violence, the Iranian government has declared three days of state-mandated mourning.
According to the semiofficial Tasnim news agency, the tribute is dedicated to those purportedly slain by ‘urban terrorist criminals’—a designation likely used by the state to describe security personnel killed during the ongoing clashes with protesters.
