US President Donald Trump claims Iran has reached out and proposed negotiations, as he considers “very strong” military action against the country over the crackdown on protests that have killed more than 500 people.
“The leaders of Iran, they want to negotiate,” Mr Trump told reporters on Sunday aboard Air Force One. “I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States. Iran wants to negotiate with us.”
The US and Iran have been exchanging threats in recent days after Mr Trump threatened to attack the country if Iranian authorities continued to violently crackdown on protests that have engulfed the country. Iran has repeatedly accused the US and Israel of involvement in the demonstrations.
“We may meet them,” Mr Trump said. “A meeting is being set up. But we may have to act, because of what's happening, before the meeting … but a meeting is being set up.”
Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday that a "communication channel is open ... through which messages are exchanged whenever needed" between the Iranian foreign minister and the US president’s special envoy, apparently referring to Steve Witkoff.
Mr Baghaei claimed US and Israeli officials had admitted interference in protests across the country's 31 provinces "very openly," accusing them of seeking to create violence and chaos in Iran. “Many believe that the recent events that happened these days were the thirteenth day of the US-Israeli aggression against our country,” he said.
Reports have emerged that Mr Trump has been considering military options for Iran. The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday that Mr Trump is expected to be briefed by senior officials on Tuesday while The New York Times, quoting administration officials, reported that the US President has been briefed in recent days about options for military strikes.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi claimed on Monday that the situation in Iran is "under total control" amid a complete communication blackout.
Mr Araghchi added that Mr Trump's warning to Tehran has motivated "terrorists" to target protesters and security forces in order to invite foreign intervention.
In a post on social media, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned Mr Trump that he would be brought down.
His official X account posted a cartoon depicting Mr Trump as a crumbling sarcophagus with a message saying "this one too will be overthrown".
The image depicts the US leader as an ancient Egyptian-style stone sarcophagus inside a burial tomb that's adorned with hieroglyphics. The accompanying text on the cartoon reads: "Like Pharaoh".
Mr Trump "should know that usually the tyrants and oppressors of the world, such as Pharaoh and Nimrod and Reza Khan and Mohammad Reza and the likes of them, when they were at the peak of their pride, were overthrown. This one too will be overthrown,” Mr Khamenei said in remarks aired on state television.
On Sunday, Parliament Speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said Iran would attack American bases in the Middle East in response to any strikes.
“We’re looking at it very seriously,” Mr Trump said about taking action in Iran. “The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options. We’ll make a determination.”
At least 544 people have been killed according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, including 483 protesters and 47 members of the security forces. It said more than 10,600 people had been arrested.
The Iranian government has declared a three-day mourning period for security forces killed in protests, describing it as the fight against what it calls “riots” as an “Iranian national resistance battle against America and the Zionist regime”.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian urged people to join a “national resistance march” on Monday to denounce the violence, state media reported.
The protest movement is the largest Iran has experienced in years and, although it was triggered by economic concerns, the demonstrations have transformed into a wider demand for freedom and opposition against the regime.
