By Jana Choukeir, Nayera Abdallah and Tala Ramadan
DUBAI, Jan 12 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump said the U.S. may meet with Iranian officials and has been in contact with the opposition as he weighs a number of strong responses, including military options, to a violent crackdown on Iranian protests that are one of the biggest challenges to the clerical leadership since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
“We are ready for war, but also for dialogue,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Monday in a briefing to foreign ambassadors in Tehran, through an English translation.
Trump warned Iranian leaders that the United States would attack if security forces opened fire on protesters.
US human rights group HRANA said it had verified the deaths of 490 protesters and 48 security personnel, with more than 10,600 people arrested.
Iran has not given an official tally, and Reuters could not independently verify the accounts.
Trump said on Sunday that Iran had called to negotiate over its nuclear program, which Israel and the US bombed in a 12-day war in June.
“Iran wants to negotiate, yes. We may meet with them. A meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what happens before the meeting, but a meeting is being set up. Iran has called, they want to negotiate,” Trump 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 on Sunday. The Wall Street Journal had reported that options included military strikes, the use of secret cyber weapons, expanding sanctions and providing online aid to anti-government sources.
“The military is looking at it and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters from Air Force One.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf warned Washington against “a miscalculation”.
“Let’s be clear: in the event of an attack on Iran, the occupied territories (Israel) as well as all American bases and ships will be our legitimate targets,” said Qalibaf, a former commander of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards.
DOZENS OF BODY BAGS
The protests began on December 28 in response to rising prices, before turning against the clerical rulers who have ruled since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Iranians, struggling to make ends meet, have grown increasingly resentful of the powerful Revolutionary Guards, whose business interests, including oil and gas, construction and telecommunications, are worth billions of dollars.
State television on Monday broadcast live footage of large crowds taking part in a funeral procession for security forces killed in Shahrud and pro-government demonstrations in cities such as Kerman, Zahedan and Birjand, organized “to condemn recent terrorist events”. It also carried calls from various senior officials inviting people to take to the streets on Monday.
Iranian authorities accused the US and Israel of stirring up trouble and called for a nationwide rally on Monday to condemn “terrorist actions led by the United States and Israel”, state media reported.
The situation in Iran is “under full control” after protest-related violence escalated over the weekend, Araqchi said. He added that Trump’s warning against Tehran to take action if the protests turn bloody has motivated “terrorists” to target protesters and security forces to invite foreign intervention.
The flow of information from Iran was hampered by an internet outage on Thursday. Trump said on Sunday that he would talk to Elon Musk about restoring Internet access to Iran through his Starlink satellite service.
Araqchi said internet service will be restored in coordination with security authorities.
Images posted on social media from Tehran on Saturday showed large crowds marching through the night, cheering and chanting. The crowd “has no end, no beginning,” a man is heard saying.
State television showed dozens of body bags on the ground at the coroner’s office in Tehran, saying the dead were victims of events caused by “armed terrorists,” as well as images of loved ones gathered outside Tehran’s Kahrizak Forensic Medical Center waiting to identify bodies.
Reuters verified the locations.
Authorities declared three days of national mourning on Sunday “in honor of the martyrs killed in the resistance against the United States and the Zionist regime,” according to state media.
Three Israeli sources, who were present at Israeli security consultations over the weekend, said Israel was on high alert for the possibility of any US intervention.
Israel and Iran fought a 12-day war in June 2025, which the United States briefly joined by attacking nuclear facilities. Iran retaliated by firing missiles at Israel and a US airbase in Qatar.
“RIOTS AND TERRORISTS”
While Iranian authorities have resisted previous protests, the latest has come with Tehran still reeling from last year’s war and its regional position weakened by blows to allies such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah since the October 7, 2023 attacks against Israel.
Iran’s unrest comes as Trump flexes US muscle internationally after ousting Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and discussing acquiring Greenland by purchase or force.
Alan Eyre, a former US diplomat and Iran expert, thought the protests were unlikely to topple the establishment.
“I think they’re more likely to call off these protests in the end, but come out of the process much weaker,” he told Reuters, noting that Iran’s elite still appeared cohesive and there was no organized opposition.
Trump, posting on social media on Saturday, said: “Iran is looking at FREEDOM, maybe like never before. USA is ready to help!!!”
(Additional reporting by Elwely Elwelly in Dubai. Rami Ayyub, Maayan Lubell and Alexander Cornwell in Jerusalem, Steve Holland in Washington; Video checking by Mahezabin Syed, Eleanor Whalley and Marine Delrue; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Sergio Non, Lincoln Feast and Michael Perry)