{"id":39880,"date":"2026-01-12T09:09:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T03:24:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/?p=39880"},"modified":"2026-01-12T09:18:40","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T03:33:40","slug":"iran-warns-it-will-retaliate-if-us-attacks-as-hundreds-killed-in-protests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/iran-warns-it-will-retaliate-if-us-attacks-as-hundreds-killed-in-protests\/","title":{"rendered":"Deaths from Iran protests reach more than 500, rights group says"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Reuters:<\/strong> 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.<\/p>\n

With the Islamic Republic\u2019s clerical establishment facing the biggest demonstrations since 2022, Trump has repeatedly threatened to intervene if force is used on protesters.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Iran has not given an official toll and Reuters was unable to independently verify the tolls.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cThe military is looking at it, and we\u2019re looking at some very strong options,\u201d Trump told reporters travelling on Air Force One on Sunday night.<\/p>\n

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer 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 Qalibaf, a former commander in Iran\u2019s elite Revolutionary Guards.<\/p>\n

Authorities intensify crackdown<\/strong><\/p>\n

The protests began on December 28 in response to soaring prices, before turning against the clerical rulers who have governed since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.<\/p>\n

Iranian authorities accused the US and Israel of fomenting trouble and called for a nationwide rally on Monday to condemn \u201cterrorist actions led by the United States and Israel,\u201d state media reported.<\/p>\n

The flow of information from Iran has been hampered by an internet blackout since Thursday. Trump said on Sunday he would talk to Elon Musk about restoring internet access in Iran through his Starlink satellite service.<\/p>\n

Three Israeli sources, who were present for Israeli security consultations over the weekend, said Israel was on a high-alert footing for the possibility of any US intervention.<\/p>\n

Israel and Iran fought a 12-day war in June 2025, which the United States briefly joined by attacking nuclear installations. Iran retaliated by firing missiles at Israel and an American air base in Qatar.<\/p>\n

\u2018Rioters and terrorists\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

While the Iranian authorities have weathered previous protests, the latest have unfolded with Tehran still recovering from last year\u2019s war and with its regional position weakened by blows to allies such as Lebanon\u2019s Hezbollah since the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attacks against Israel.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s unrest comes as Trump flexes US muscles internationally, having ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, and discussing acquiring Greenland by purchase or force.<\/p>\n

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Israel and the US were masterminding destabilisation and that Iran\u2019s enemies had brought in \u201cterrorists … who set mosques on fire … attack banks, and public properties\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cFamilies, I ask you: do not allow your young children to join rioters and terrorists who behead people and kill others,\u201d he said in a TV interview, adding that the government was ready to listen to the people and to resolve economic problems.<\/p>\n

Iran summoned Britain\u2019s ambassador on Sunday to the foreign ministry over \u201cinterventionist comments\u201d attributed to the British foreign minister and a protester removing the Iranian flag from the London Embassy building and replacing it with a style of flag used prior to the 1979 Islamic Revolution.<\/p>\n

Britain\u2019s foreign office did not immediately reply to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

Alan Eyre, a former US diplomat and Iran expert, thought it unlikely the protests would topple the establishment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it more likely that it puts these protests down eventually, but emerges from the process far weaker,\u201d he told Reuters, noting that Iran\u2019s elite still appeared cohesive and there was no organised opposition.<\/p>\n

Iranian state TV broadcast funeral processions in western cities such as Gachsaran and Yasuj for security personnel killed in protests.<\/p>\n

State TV said 30 members of the security forces would be buried in the central city of Isfahan and that six more were killed by \u201crioters\u201d in Kermanshah in the west.<\/p>\n

US ready to help, says Trump<\/strong><\/p>\n

Trump, posting on social media on Saturday, said: \u201cIran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!!\u201d<\/p>\n

In a phone call on Saturday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed the possibility of US intervention in Iran, according to an Israeli source present for the conversation.<\/p>\n

Some protesters in the United States took to the streets in support of the demonstrators in Iran. In the Los Angeles neighbourhood of Westwood, a rental truck drove into a crowd of a few hundred people who were holding a rally in support of the Iranian protesters, the KNBC news outlet reported on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Los Angeles Police officer Sean Murray said that, based on video news accounts, the driver was escorted away by police. Murray said it was not clear how many people were injured, but that all of the injured were treated at the scene.<\/p>\n

Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran\u2019s last shah and a prominent voice in the fragmented opposition, said Trump had observed Iranians\u2019 \u201cindescribable bravery\u201d. \u201cDo not abandon the streets,\u201d Pahlavi, who is based in the US, wrote on X.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reuters: 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\u2019s clerical establishment facing the biggest demonstrations since 2022, Trump has repeatedly threatened […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39881,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39880"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39880"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39880\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39886,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39880\/revisions\/39886"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}