{"id":241697,"date":"2026-01-12T23:11:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T23:11:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/241697\/"},"modified":"2026-01-12T23:11:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T23:11:17","slug":"trump-weighs-response-options-as-death-toll-in-protests-nears-600-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/241697\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump weighs response options as death toll in protests nears 600 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Iran<\/a> said on Monday it is keeping \u200dcommunications open with the US<\/a> as president Donald Trump<\/a> weighed responses to a deadly crackdown on nationwide protests<\/a>, which pose one of the stiffest challenges to clerical rule since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.<\/p>\n

Mr Trump said on Sunday the US may meet Iranian officials and he was in contact with Iran\u2019s opposition, \u200dwhile piling pressure on its leaders, including threatening possible military action over lethal violence against protesters.<\/p>\n

US-based rights group HRANA said it had verified the deaths of 599 people – 510 \u2060protesters and 89 security personnel. Since the protests began on December 28th and spread around the country, 10,694 people have been arrested, the group said. Reuters was unable to confirm the figures independently. Verified video footage \u200cshowed \u200bIranians \u200dat the Kahrizak Forensic Centre in Tehran, standing over rows of body bags on Sunday.<\/p>\n

The flow of information from the Islamic Republic has been hampered by an internet blackout since Thursday. <\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s leaders, their regional clout much reduced, are facing fierce demonstrations that evolved from complaints about dire economic hardships to defiant calls for \u200cthe fall of the deeply entrenched clerical establishment. <\/p>\n

But despite the massive scale of the protests, there are no signs of splits in the Shia clerical leadership, military or security forces, and demonstrators have no clear central leadership. The opposition is fragmented.<\/p>\n

Protesters gathered on a highway in northeastern Iran chanting slogans as fires burned around them. Videos posted to social media January 10th. Video: Reuters <\/p>\n

In verified video footage, Iranians gathered at the Kahrizak Forensic Centre in Tehran \u2060on Sunday, standing over rows of dark body bags.<\/p>\n

Mr Trump said on Sunday that Iran had called to negotiate about its disputed nuclear programme. Israel and the US bombed Iranian nuclear sites in a 12-day war in June. \u201cA meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what is happening before the meeting,\u201d he told reporters on Air Force One.<\/p>\n

Mr Trump was to meet with senior advisers on Tuesday to discuss options for Iran, a US official told Reuters. The Wall Street Journal reported that those included military strikes, using secret cyber weapons, widening sanctions and providing online help to anti-government sources.<\/p>\n

Striking military installations could be highly risky, as some may be located in heavily populated areas.<\/p>\n

Iran has not given an official death toll, but blames the bloodshed on US interference and what it calls Israeli and US-backed terrorists. State-run media has focused attention \u200con the \u200bdeaths \u200dof security forces.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s ministry of intelligence said on Monday it had detained \u201cterrorist\u201d teams responsible for acts including killing paramilitary volunteers loyal to the clerical establishment, torching mosques and attacking military sites, according to a statement carried by state media.<\/p>\n

Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said \u201ccontradictory messages\u201d from the US showed a lack of seriousness, but that contacts continued. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe communication channel between our foreign minister Abbas Araqchi and the US special envoy [Steve Witkoff] is open and messages are exchanged whenever necessary,\u201d he said, adding that contacts also remain open through traditional intermediary Switzerland.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Iranian student (23) killed during protests shot in head \u2018from close range\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Mr Araqchi reiterated \u2060in a briefing to foreign ambassadors in Tehran that the Islamic Republic was ready for war but also open to dialogue.<\/p>\n

The ambassadors of Britain, Italy, Germany and France in Tehran were summoned to the foreign ministry, semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Monday, \u2060and asked to relay to their governments Tehran\u2019s request to withdraw their support for the \u2060protests.<\/p>\n

Iran considers any political or media support for the protests \u201can unacceptable intervention in the internal security of the country\u201d, Tasnim added.<\/p>\n

A French diplomatic source said the ambassadors had strongly expressed their concerns.<\/p>\n

Addressing a large crowd in Tehran\u2019s Enqelab Square on Monday, parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said Iranians were fighting a war on four fronts \u2013 \u201ceconomic war, psychological warfare, military war against the US and Israel, and today a \u200dwar against terrorism\u201d. <\/p>\n

Mr Araqchi said on Monday that a total of 53 mosques and 180 ambulances had been set on fire since the protests erupted.<\/p>\n

\"IraniansIranians block a street during a protest in Kermanshah on January 8th. Photograph: Kamran\/Middle East Images\/AFP via Getty <\/p>\n

CCTV footage from inside Tehran\u2019s Abuzar Mosque showed a dozen people, most wearing face masks, ransacking the structure, throwing books on to the ground and destroying furniture last week. Reuters verified the time stamp and location. State media reported that the mosque was set on fire on January 9th.<\/p>\n

Parliament speaker Mr Qalibaf warned Washington against \u201ca miscalculation\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet us be clear: in the case of an attack on Iran, the occupied territories [Israel] as well as all US bases and ships will be our legitimate target,\u201d said Mr Qalibaf, a former commander in Iran\u2019s elite Revolutionary Guards.<\/p>\n

However, Tehran is still recovering from last year\u2019s war, and its regional \u200cclout has been weakened by blows to allies such as Lebanon\u2019s Hizbullah since the October 7th, 2023, attack on Israel. Israel also killed top Iranian military commanders in the June war.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018I want to live a \u2060peaceful, normal life\u2019: Iran\u2019s younger generation is defying the regimeOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The protests began in response to soaring prices that have worsened daily hardships, before turning against \u2060the clerical rulers who have governed for more than 45 years. <\/p>\n

Iranians have grown increasingly resentful of the powerful Revolutionary Guards, whose business interests including oil and gas, construction and telecommunications are worth billions of dollars.<\/p>\n

Mr Araqchi said on Monday the situation was \u201cunder total control\u201d, after violence linked to protests spiked over the weekend.<\/p>\n

He said internet service would be resumed in co-ordination with security authorities. \u2013 Reuters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Iran said on Monday it is keeping \u200dcommunications open with the US as president Donald Trump weighed responses…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":241698,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[969,42,11829,115950,3410,43,40,38,41,39,115],"class_list":{"0":"post-241697","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-donald-trump","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-iran","11":"tag-iran-protests","12":"tag-israel","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-top-news","15":"tag-top-stories","16":"tag-topnews","17":"tag-topstories","18":"tag-united-states"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241697\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/241698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}