The Israel Defense Forces on Monday said the military remains on alert for possible “surprise scenarios” as anti-government unrest in Iran has prompted the United States to threaten intervention over the killing of protesters.
Tehran has threatened to retaliate against Israel and US military bases if it comes under American attack, as the Islamic Republic faces the largest wave of protests since 2022. US President Donald Trump has threatened to intervene in recent days amid reports of the growing death toll in the crackdown on demonstrators.
Human rights groups allege the death toll has risen to 648, though it may be much higher amid an internet blackout enforced by the regime since Thursday, making it difficult to assess the reported bloodletting. Some Iranians still have access to the internet via Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite service, three people inside the country said.
IDF spokesperson Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin urged the public not to “lend a hand to rumors” about the ongoing situation in Iran.
“The protests in Iran are an internal matter,” Defrin insisted in a post on X.
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He said the IDF is “prepared defensively” and continues to hold regular situational assessments, adding that it will provide updates if and when there are any changes.
Israeli security and rescue forces at the scene where a ballistic missile fired from Iran hit and caused damage in Ramat Gan, June 19, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
In June, Israel waged a 12-day war with Iran after launching a sweeping assault on Iran’s top military leaders, nuclear scientists, uranium enrichment sites, and ballistic missile program, it said was necessary to prevent the Islamic Republic from realizing its avowed plan to destroy the Jewish state.
Iran has consistently denied seeking to acquire nuclear weapons. However, it enriched uranium to levels that have no peaceful application, obstructed international inspectors from checking its nuclear facilities, and expanded its ballistic missile capabilities. Israel said Iran had recently taken steps toward weaponization.
According to the Kan public broadcaster, Israel believes US President Donald Trump will make good on his threat to attack, and that this will lead to another war between Israel and Iran.
Former strategic affairs minister Ron Dermer was summoned by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to join a meeting on Sunday with senior ministers and security officials as the US weighed action, according to Channel 12 news.
The network reported that Dermer was consulted due to the potentially fateful decisions that the Trump administration may take vis-à-vis Iran. Dermer, a longtime Netanyahu confidant who resigned from his post in November, had been in charge of overseeing ties with the Trump administration.
The network also quoted an unnamed Israeli source warning that Iran’s offer to hold talks with the US is “a trap” meant to delay potential American strikes on the Islamic Republic.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, from right, attends a meeting with US President Donald Trump, not pictured, as Netanyahu’s wife Sara Netanyahu, then-strategic affairs minister Ron Dermer, National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi and Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs listen, in the Blue Room of the White House, July 7, 2025, in Washington. (AP/Alex Brandon)
In his latest attempt to pressure Tehran, US President Donald Trump announced on Monday that “effective immediately, any country doing business with the Islamic Republic of Iran will pay a tariff of 25 percent on any and all business being done with the United States of America.”
“This order is final and conclusive,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Brazil, China, Russia, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates are among economies that do business with Tehran.
The White House declined to offer further comment about the president’s tariff announcement.
Iran had no direct reaction to Trump’s comments, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.
While Trump has avoided explicit talk of regime change, he has threatened military action against Iran if it kills protesters, which has reportedly been the case.
US President Donald Trump speaks to reporters while in flight on Air Force One to Joint Base Andrews, Md, January 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Trump said Sunday that Iran’s leadership reached out to the US over the weekend, expressing interest in holding nuclear negotiations. The president said he may take up the offer but indicated he may strike Iran first.
Trump is slated to hold a security consultation on Tuesday, during which he will be briefed on potential actions to take against Iran. He is said to lean in favor of a military strike, while also remaining open to a diplomatic solution.
The president has expressed support for the protesters and has pledged that “help” is on the way, without elaborating.
The Pentagon has briefed Trump on possible military strikes, cyberattacks, and psychological measures that can be taken to support the protesters, CBS News reported, citing two American officials, who said that a final decision has not yet been made.
The US Department of State Consular Affairs has highlighted the escalating protests and said US citizens in Iran should consider leaving by land to Armenia or Turkey.
“US nationals are at significant risk of questioning, arrest, and detention in Iran,” the department said on its TravelGov account on X.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, speaking to foreign diplomats in Tehran earlier on Monday, insisted “the situation has come under total control” in remarks that blamed Israel and the US for the violence, without offering evidence.
“That’s why the demonstrations turned violent and bloody to give an excuse to the American president to intervene,” Araghchi said, in comments carried by Al Jazeera. The Qatar-funded network has been allowed to report live from inside Iran, despite the internet being shut off.
However, Araghchi said Iran was “open to diplomacy.” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said that a channel to the US remained open, but talks needed to be “based on the acceptance of mutual interests and concerns, not a negotiation that is one-sided, unilateral and based on dictation.”
In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran’s Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, January. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)
Iranian police have sent the public a text message that warned: “Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to take care of their youth and teenagers.”
Another text, which claimed to come from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to take part in demonstrations.
The demonstrations began on December 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at more than 1.4 million to $1, as Iran’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions, in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls calling for the overthrow of Iran’s theocracy.