Iran will attack US military assets in the Middle East in response to any strikes in support of the anti-government protests that are rocking the country, a top official said on Sunday, as rights groups reported a sharp rise in the deaths of protesters.
"To prevent miscalculation, understand that should you take action to attack Iran, both the occupied territories [Israel] and all American military centres, bases, and ships in the region will be legitimate targets," Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said in remarks broadcast on state television.
President Masoud Pezeshkian accused the US of “encouraging certain individuals to create chaos and riots”, during a meeting with the Omani Foreign Minister Badr Al Busaidi in Tehran on Saturday.
On Sunday, The Wall Street Journal reported that the US President Donald Trump will be briefed on Tuesday about specific actions against the regime, including military options.
The death toll from two weeks of protests sparked by economic hardship jumped to more than 500 on Sunday, Reuters reported, quoting the US-based Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA). The deaths included 490 protesters and 48 security personnel, according to HRANA, which relies on a network of activists inside and outside Iran.
The group had reported a death toll of 116 on Saturday, which included 37 members of security forces. More than 10,600 people have been arrested, according to the group.
The Oslo-based Hengaw Organisation for Human Rights said it had verified the identities of 50 people killed “by direct gunfire from the Iranian government”.
The protests have continued despite the crackdown and the government’s offers of dialogue, with protesters calling for an end to Iran’s theocratic regime. Online accounts and video of protesters marching through cities, facing gunfire from security forces and attacking government buildings continue to emerge despite a near-total internet shutdown imposed since Friday.
“There is real sense of hopelessness in Iran, so it's a now-or-never situation for them," Dina Esfandiary, a Middle East expert at Bloomberg Geoeconomics, told The National. "The spectre of war is hanging over their heads as well, which has paralysed the leadership. It’s a perfect storm,” she added.
Farzan Sabet, Iran analyst at the Geneva Graduate Institute, said Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the Islamic Republic "are political zombies: finished even if they continue to walk”. “Some kind of change is inevitable, and sooner, rather than later," he said.
Mr Trump, who has threatened to hit Iran "very hard" if it uses violence against the protesters, expressed support for them again on Saturday “Iran is looking at freedom, perhaps like never before,” he wrote on his Truth Social account. “The USA stands ready to help!!!”
He has been briefed in recent days on the military options for striking Iran, the New York Times reported. He has not made a final decision but is seriously considering authorising a strike in response to the Iranian government's efforts to suppress the protests, the newspaper quoted officials as saying.
