At least 544 dead in Iran unrest as Tehran issues war threat

At least 544 people have been killed in Iran’s crackdown on nationwide protests, activists said, as Tehran warned the US and Israel of military retaliation if Washington intervenes, amid growing international concern over the escalating unrest

Dubai: A crackdown on nationwide protests in Iran has killed at least 544 people and even more are feared dead, activists have said, while Tehran warned that the US military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.

Another over 10,600 people have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency on Sunday, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years. It relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information.

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It said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces.

With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.

Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown. Protesters flooded the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Online videos purported to show more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday.

US President Donald Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the US or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who were not authorised to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters Sunday night. Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”

The massive ongoing US military deployment to the Caribbean is a factor that the Pentagon and Trump’s national security planners must consider.

The threat to strike the US military and Israel came during a parliamentary speech by Mohammad Baagher Qalibaf, the hard-liner speaker of the body who has run for the presidency in the past.

He directly threatened Israel, calling it “the occupied territory”.

“In the event of an attack on Iran, both the occupied territory and all American military centres, bases and ships in the region will be our legitimate targets,” Qalibaf said. “We do not consider ourselves limited to reacting after the action and will act based on any objective signs of a threat.”

Lawmakers rushed the dais in parliament, shouting: “Death to America!”

It remains unclear how serious Iran is about launching a strike, particularly after its air defences were destroyed during the 12-day war in June with Israel. Any decision to go to war would rest with Iran’s 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The US military has said in the Mideast it is “postured with forces that span the full range of combat capability to defend our forces, our partners and allies and US interests.”

Iran targeted US forces at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar in June, while the US Navy’s Mideast-based 5th Fleet is stationed in the island kingdom of Bahrain.