Donald Trump is expected to meet with senior US officials on Tuesday to review Washington’s options in response to Iran’s crackdown on mass anti-government protests.
The president will meet with senior aides, including secretary of state Marco Rubio and defence secretary Pete Hegseth, on Tuesday to weigh up options, including military strikes and sanctions, according to The Wall Street Journal.
It comes after Iran’s parliamentary speaker warned on Sunday that Tehran would consider Israel and US bases and ships to be fair targets if Washington does involve itself, raising fears of a wider regional conflict.
Over the weekend, authorities tightened their grip on the unrest as protesters were warned that they could face the death penalty for causing damage to property. The military accused foreign “enemies” of fuelling the unrest, meanwhile, and urged civilians to stay vigilant against so-called “enemy plots”.
The US-based rights group HRANA reported on Sunday evening that the death toll has surpassed 500, and that more than 10,000 people had been arrested. They noted difficulty sourcing reliable information with Iran maintaining its internet blackout nationwide.
Trump says he will talk to Musk about restoring internet in Iran
US president Donald Trump said on Sunday he plans to speak with billionaire Elon Musk about restoring internet in Iran, where authorities have blacked out services for four days amid ongoing anti-government protests.
“He’s very good at that kind of thing, he’s got a very good company,” Trump told reporters in response to a question about whether he would engage with Musk’s SpaceX company, which offers a satellite internet service called Starlink that has been used in Iran.
Musk and SpaceX did not immediately comment on Trump’s remarks.
The flow of information from Iran has been hampered by an internet blackout since Thursday amid the most expansive protests against the country’s clerical establishment since 2022.
Deaths from Iran protests reach more than 500, rights group says
Unrest in Iran has killed more than 500 people, a rights group said on Sunday, as Tehran threatened to target US military bases if president Donald Trump carries out his renewed threats to intervene on behalf of protesters.
With the Islamic Republic’s clerical establishment facing the biggest demonstrations since 2022, Trump has repeatedly threatened to get involved if force is used on protesters.
According to its latest figures – from activists inside and outside Iran – US-based 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 tallies.
Protesters try to attack driver after truck speeds through anti-Iran demonstration in Los Angeles
Los Angeles police responded on Sunday after somebody drove a U-Haul box truck down a street crowded with marchers demonstrating in support of the Iranian people, causing protesters to scramble out of the way and then run after the speeding vehicle to try to attack the driver.
The U-Haul truck, with a window and side mirrors shattered, was stopped several blocks away and surrounded by police cars. ABC7 news helicopter footage showed officers keeping the crowd at bay as demonstrators swarmed the truck, throwing punches at the driver and thrusting flagpoles through the driver’s side window.
The driver, a man who was not identified, was detained “pending further investigation,” police said in a statement Sunday evening.
The police statement said one person was hit by the truck but nobody was seriously hurt. Two people were evaluated by paramedics and both declined treatment, the Los Angeles Fire Department said.
Several hundred people, some waving the flag of Iran, had gathered Sunday afternoon along Veteran Avenue in LA’s Westwood neighborhood to protest against the Iranian theocracy. Police eventually issued a dispersal order, and by 5pm only about a hundred protesters were still in the area, ABC7 reported.
Activists say a crackdown on nationwide protests in Iran has killed more than 530 people. Protesters flooded the streets in Iran’s capital of Tehran and its second-largest city again on Sunday.
Watch: Iran parliament speaker threatens Trump with retaliation
Footage from Saturday showed large crowds in Tehran
The flow of information from Iran has been hampered by an internet blackout since Thursday.
Footage posted on social media on Saturday from Tehran showed large crowds marching at night, clapping and chanting. The crowd “has no end nor beginning,” a man is heard saying.
Footage from the northeastern city of Mashhad showed smoke billowing into the night sky from fires in the street, masked protesters and a road strewn with debris, another video posted on Saturday showed.
Explosions could be heard.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was shocked by reports of violence by the Iranian authorities and urged maximum restraint.
“The rights to freedom of expression, association & peaceful assembly must be fully respected & protected,” he said on X on Sunday.
Trump says US are looking at ‘very strong options’
Trump told reporters that he was getting “hourly” updates on the situation in Iran during a press huddle on Air Force One Sunday night.
“We’re looking at some very strong options,” he said, adding that Iran was “starting” to cross his red line, according to the New York Times.
Trump to be briefed by senior officials this week as his considers his options
The president will meet with senior administration officials, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Dan Caine to weigh the options, which include boosting anti-government sources online, utilizing secret cyber weapons, and placing more sanctions on the regime and military strikes, according to the report.
The Independent view: Regime change in Iran would be welcome
Editorial: Iran’s unremittingly harsh leadership faces one of the most serious challenges to its theocratic rule since the Islamic Republic was established in 1979.
After weeks of nationwide protests, the ayatollahs’ spell could soon be broken – which is how counter-revolutions begin, and governments fall
