President Trump says Iranian leaders have contacted the US to “negotiate” as he considers taking military action in the country.
The US president spoke to reporters on board Air Force One, saying a meeting was being set up, but added that he may have to act before any meeting.
“They’re starting to, it looks like,” Trump said, when asked if Iran had crossed his “red line” of protesters being killed.
“We’re looking at it very seriously. The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options. We’ll make a determination.”
Hundreds of protesters have reportedly been killed by security forces in Iran since late December, the BBC counted at least 180 white shrouds from footage taken at a morgue in Tehran
Last week, Trump warned that “we’ll start shooting too” if Iranian forces attacked protesters
The US-based Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA) says it has verified the deaths of nearly 500 protesters
Iranian authorities have imposed an internet shutdown since Thursday, making it hard to obtain any information.
The internet blackout has continued for more than three days, according to internet tracking agency NetBlocks.
However, Iranian state TV is trying to project calm.
BBC Persian has seen text messages inviting people to attend pro-establishment rallies held today across the country, while some from inside have said that they can’t send messages themselves.
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Meanwhile, a former US ambassador in the Middle East and a former Middle East Envoy to Iran under former President Joe Biden, David Satterfield, says Iran is unable to provide the basics of life to its citizens.
Those basics, he said, are “water, fuel, electricity, and food at rates that are affordable, not just by lower economic classes, but by the upper and upper-middle classes as well,” he tells BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“The regime doesn’t have the resources to address the sources of the protests.
“If it is about cultural events, as in (the protests in) 2022, the regime can, and did, relieve the sanctions on women, the dress codes eased, the covering of hair was no longer enforced by religious police.
“But if what you are after here is a living wage, a non-depreciating currency, fuel, electricity, water, that is not something the regime can easily pivot to.”
The BBC had been tracking the scale of protests before and after the internet shut down, with protests spreading to almost all provinces and at least 70 cities.
