Trump weighs response to Iran crackdown, Tehran says communication open with US

By Jana Choukeir, Nayera Abdallah and Tala Ramadan, Reuters Photo: HENRY NICHOLLS / AFP Trump considers range of options, including military action against Iran Iran says it is ready for war but also dialogue Says it is keeping communications with US Mass protests pose major challenge to clerics' rule Death toll rises to more than 544, rights group says No signs of splits in clerical leadership or security forces Iran said on Monday it is keeping communications open with the US as President Donald Trump weighed responses to a deadly crackdown on nationwide protests, which pose one of the stiffest challenges to clerical rule since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Trump said on Sunday the US may meet Iranian officials and he was in contact with Iran's opposition, while piling pressure on its leaders, including threatening possible military action over lethal violence against protesters. US-based rights group HRANA said it had verified the deaths of 544 people - 496 protesters and 48 security personnel, with 10,681 people arrested since the protests began on 28 December and spread around the country. Reuters was unable to independently verify the tallies. The flow of information from the Islamic Republic has been hampered by an internet blackout since Thursday. Iran's leaders are facing fierce demonstrations that evolved from complaints about dire economic hardships to defiant calls for the fall of the deeply entrenched clerical establishment, and with the country's regional clout much reduced. But despite the massive scale of the protests, there are no signs of splits in the Shi'ite clerical leadership, military or security forces, and demonstrators have no clear central leadership. The opposition is fragmented. In verified video footage, Iranians gathered at the Kahrizak Forensic Centre in Tehran on Sunday, standing over rows of dark body bags. Iran has not given an official death toll, but blames the bloodshed on US interference and what it calls Israeli- and US-backed terrorists. State-run media has focused attention on the deaths of security forces. 'Communication channel' with US open' "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. Contacts also remain open through traditional intermediary Switzerland, he said. "[The US] touched upon some cases, ideas were brought up and in general... the Islamic Republic is a country that never left the negotiating table", Baghaei said. But he added that "contradictory messages" from the US showed a lack of seriousness and were not convincing. Araqchi reiterated in a briefing to foreign ambassadors in Tehran that the Islamic Republic was ready for war but also open to dialogue. The ambassadors of Britain, Italy, Germany and France in Tehran were summoned to the foreign ministry, semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Monday, and asked to relay to their governments Tehran's request to withdraw their support for the protests. Iran considers any political or media support for the protests "an unacceptable intervention in the internal security of the country", Tasnim added. Addressing a large crowd in Tehran's Enqelab Square on Monday, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said Iranians were fighting a war on four fronts - "economic war, psychological warfare, military war against the US and Israel, and today a war against terrorism." Araqchi said on Monday that a total of 53 mosques and 180 ambulances had been set on fire since the protests erupted, adding that "no Iranian would attack a mosque". CCTV footage from inside Tehran's Abuzar Mosque showed a dozen people, most wearing face masks, ransacking the structure, throwing books onto the ground and destroying furniture last week. Reuters verified the time stamp and location. State media reported that the mosque was set on fire on 9 January. Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images via CNN Newsource 'We might meet' Iranians, Trump says Trump said on Sunday that Iran had called to negotiate on its disputed nuclear programme. Israel and the US bombed Iranian nuclear sites in a 12-day war in June. "Iran wants to negotiate, yes. We might meet with them. A meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what is happening before the meeting, but a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate," he told reporters on Air Force One. Trump was to meet with senior advisers on Tuesday to discuss options for Iran, a US official told Reuters. The Wall Street Journal reported that the options included military strikes, using secret cyber weapons, widening sanctions and providing online help to anti-government sources. Striking military installations could be highly risky. Some bases of elite military and security forces may be located in heavily populated areas so any attack ordered by Trump could...

Trump weighs response to Iran crackdown, Tehran says communication open with US

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