- Trump will meet with top advisers on Tuesday to discuss Iran options.
- The Iranian government declares three days of national mourning for the “martyrs.”
- Iran warns it will attack US military and maritime targets if attacked.
US President Donald Trump said on Sunday he was considering possible military action against Iran, amid growing mass anti-government protests in the country.
“It looks like they’re starting to do it,” Trump said, when asked by reporters aboard Air Force One whether Iran had crossed the previously declared red line of killing protesters.
“We are looking at it very seriously. The military is looking at it and we are looking at some very strong options. We will make a determination,” he said.
He also said that Iran’s leaders had called for seeking “negotiation” following their threats of military action.
“Iran’s leaders called” yesterday, Trump said, adding that “a meeting is being arranged… They want to negotiate.”
However, Trump added that “we may have to act before a meeting.”
Trump to meet with top advisers
Trump will meet with top advisers on Tuesday to discuss options for Iran, a US official said. Reuters on Sunday.
He Wall Street Journal had reported that options included military strikes, the use of secret cyber weapons, expanded sanctions and providing online aid to anti-government sources.
Earlier, the speaker of the Iranian Parliament, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, warned Washington against “a miscalculation.”
“Let us 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 target,” said Qalibaf, a former commander of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard.
Iranian president calls for a “national resistance march”
The Iranian government declared three days of national mourning for “martyrs,” including members of the security forces killed in two weeks of protests, state television reported Sunday.
The government described the fight against what it has called “unrest” as a “battle of national Iranian resistance against the United States and the Zionist regime,” using the term the clerical leadership uses to refer to Israel, which the Islamic republic does not recognize.
President Masoud Pezeshkian urged people to take part in a “national resistance march” with nationwide demonstrations on Monday to denounce the violence, which the government said was committed by “urban terrorist criminals,” state television reported.
The protests have increased in recent days despite the Internet blackout that has lasted more than 72 hours, according to the Netblocks monitor. Campaigners have warned that the shutdown is limiting the flow of information and that the real cost risks being much higher.
Meanwhile, unrest in Iran has killed more than 500 people, a human rights group said Sunday.
According to its latest figures, from activists inside and outside Iran, the US-based human rights group HRANA said it had verified the deaths of 490 protesters and 48 security personnel, with more than 10,600 people arrested in two weeks of unrest.
Iran has not given an official toll and Reuters was unable to independently verify the counts.
