Iran warns against US strikes; activists say protest death toll at 203

Iran's parliament speaker warned Sunday that the US military and Israel would be legitimate targets if the US strikes the Islamic Republic over the ongoing protests roiling the country, as threatened by President Donald Trump.

Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf made the threat after nationwide protests challenging Iran's theocracy saw protesters flood the streets in the country's capital and its second-largest city into Sunday morning, crossing the two-week mark. At least 203 people have died in violence surrounding the demonstrations, activists said, with fears the death toll is far higher.

With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult.

 

Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran's security services to launch a bloody crackdown.

Trump offered support for the protesters, saying on social media that Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!! The New York Times and Wall Street Journal, citing anonymous US officials, said on Saturday night that Trump had been given military options for a strike on Iran, but hadn't made a final decision.

Parliament rallies  Iranian state television broadcast the parliament session live. Qalibaf, a hard-liner who has run for the presidency in the past, gave a speech applauding police and Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, particularly its all-volunteer Basij, for having stood firm during the protests.

He went on to directly threaten Israel, the occupied territory as he referred to it, and the US military, possibly with a pre-emptive strike.

In the event of an attack on Iran, both the occupied territory and all American military centres, bases and ships in the region will be our legitimate targets, Qalibaf said. We do not consider ourselves limited to reacting after the action and will act based on any objective signs of a threat.

Lawmakers rushed the dais in the Iranian parliament, shouting: Death to America!  It remains unclear just how serious Iran is about launching a strike, particularly after its air defences were destroyed during the 12-day war in June with Israel. Any decision to go to war would rest with Iran's 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The US military has said in the Mideast it is postured with forces that span the full range of combat capability to defend our forces, our partners and allies and US interests. Iran targeted US forces at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar back in June, while the US Navy's Mideast-based 5th Fleet is stationed in the island kingdom of Bahrain.

Israel, meanwhile, is watching closely the situation between the US and Iran, said an Israeli official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to not being authorized to speak to journalists. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio overnight on topics including Iran, the official added.

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which relies on activists in Iran cross-checking information, offered the new death toll of 203 on Sunday, a large jump. Of those killed, 162 are protesters and 41 are members of the security forces, it said. The agency also acknowledged receiving claims of far more deaths that it was still assessing as over 3,280 others have been arrested.

The group has offered accurate tolls in previous rounds of unrest in the Islamic Republic. The Iranian government has not offered any overall casualty figures for the demonstrations.

The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll, as communications with Iran have been cut.

Protests in Tehran and Mashhad  Online videos sent out of Iran, likely using Starlink satellite transmitters, purportedly showed demonstrators gathering in northern Tehran's Punak neighbourhood. There, it appeared authorities shut off streets, with protesters waving their lit mobile phones. Others banged metal while fireworks went off.

The pattern of protests in the capital has largely taken the form of scattered, short-lived, and fluid gatherings, an approach shaped in response to the heavy presence of security forces and increased field pressure, the Human Rights Activists News Agency said. Reports were received of surveillance drones flying overhead and movements by security forces around protest locations, indicating ongoing monitoring and security control.

In Mashhad, Iran's second-largest city some 725 kilometres (450 miles) northeast of Tehran, footage purported to show protesters confronting security forces. Protests also appeared to happen in Kerman, 800 kilometres (500 miles) southeast of Tehran.

Iranian state television on Sunday morning had their correspondents appear on the streets in several cities to show calm areas with a date stamp shown on screen. Tehran and Mashhad were not included.

Government rhetoric also ratcheted up Sunday. Ali Larijani, a top security official, accused some demonstrators of killing people or burning some people, which is very similar to what ISIS does, referring to the Islamic State group by an acronym.

State TV aired funerals of slain security force members while reporting another six had been killed in Kermanshah. In Fars province, violence killed 13 people, and seven security forces were killed in North Khorasan province, it added. It also showed a pickup truck full of bodies in body bags and later a morgue.

Even Iran's reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian, who had been trying to ease anger before the demonstrations exploded in recent days, offered a hardening tone in an interview aired Sunday.

People have concerns, we should sit with them and if it is our duty, we should resolve their concerns, Pezeshkian said. But the higher duty is not to allow a group of rioters to come and destroy the entire society.

More demonstrations planned Sunday  Iran's exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi asked in his latest message for demonstrators to take to the streets Sunday.

Demonstrators have shouted in support of the shah in some protests, but it isn't clear whether that's support for Pahlavi himself or a desire to return to a time before the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Pahlavi's support of and from Israel has drawn criticism in the past, particularly after the 12-day war.

The demonstrations began December 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to USD 1, as the country's economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran's theocracy.