Iran, US at possible precipice of renewed conflict as protests continue

Washington and Tehran are engaged in escalating rhetoric over antigovernment protests in Iran with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi saying his government is ready for war after United States President Donald Trump threatened military action over Iran’s crackdown on the demonstrations.

A spokesperson for United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk ‌cited UN sources in the country on Tuesday as saying “hundreds” of people were believed to have been killed since the protests began in Tehran more than two weeks ago. Those demonstrations against Iran’s economic crisis have since widened into larger antigovernment demonstrations across the country.

In a statement read out by spokesperson ‌Jeremy Laurence, Turk said: “This cycle of horrific violence cannot continue. The Iranian ‍people and ⁠their demands for fairness, equality and justice must be heard.”

He said it was “extremely worrying to see public statements by some judicial officials indicating the possibility of the death penalty being used against protesters through expedited judicial proceedings” and decried the Iranian government’s labelling of demonstrators as “terrorists”.

The semiofficial Tasnim news agency reported on Sunday that 109 security personnel had been killed in the protests.

Authorities have not confirmed the number of demonstrators who have lost their lives, but opposition activists based outside the country said the death toll is much higher and includes hundreds of protesters.

Al Jazeera could not independently verify either figure.

The UN statement came amid soaring tensions between Tehran and Washington as the two governments traded threats and accusations over the protests.

Iran’s intelligence agency said on Tuesday that US arms and explosive equipment had been seized from “militants” who hid the weapons in several homes in the country while Iranian state television reported that authorities had detained what were described as “terrorist groups” linked to Israel in the southeastern city of Zahedan.

The news report said the group entered across Iran’s eastern border and carried US-made weapons and explosives it planned to use in assassinations and acts of sabotage.

Separately, Iran’s top military commander, Abdolrahim Mousavi, accused the US and Israel of deploying members of the armed group ISIL (ISIS) inside the country to carry out attacks, without providing evidence.

The statements followed earlier claims by Araghchi in an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera that Iranian authorities had recordings of voices from abroad giving orders to “terrorist agents” to fire on police and protesters.

Iranian officials have previously accused the US and Israel of deploying “foreign agents” to the country to instigate violence.

“The internet was only cut after we confronted terrorist operations and realised that orders were coming from outside the country,” Araghchi told Al Jazeera.

“We have recorded voices of individuals giving orders from abroad to terrorist agents, instructing them to fire at police forces and fire at demonstrators if police forces were not present. Their intention was to spread killing.”

In the interview, Araghchi responded to Washington’s recent threats of military action over the repression of the protests by saying his country was ready for war if the US wanted “to test” it.

“If Washington wants to test the military option it has tested before, we are ready for it,” said Araghchi, adding that he hoped the US would choose “the wise option” of dialogue while warning of “those trying to drag Washington into war in order to serve Israel’s interests”.

He said communications with US special envoy Steve Witkoff had “continued before and after the protests and are still ongoing”.

Vance, Rubio ‘presenting options’ to Trump

The office of US Vice President JD Vance said on Tuesday that top Trump administration officials were preparing diplomatic and military options to present to Trump over the protests.

“Vice President Vance and Secretary of State [Marco] Rubio together are presenting a suite of options to the president, ranging from a diplomatic approach to military actions,” said William Martin, Vance’s communications director.

The comments came as hardline Republican Senator Lindsey Graham urged Trump to escalate pressure on Iran’s leaders, saying the “biggest prize” of his presidency would be the “demise of the Iranian state led by the ayatollah”.

He said US military action should focus on targeting “the infrastructure that allows the killing to happen” while stopping short of advocating for a ground invasion.

Putting US troops on the ground against Iran’s battle-hardened Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps would risk serious US losses.

The US last year bombed Iranian nuclear sites when it joined Israel’s 12-day war against Iran.

The statements followed Trump’s remarks on Sunday that he was considering “strong options” for Iran over its government’s crackdown on the demonstrations, which began last month over a plummeting currency, and have widened into broader antigovernment protests, resulting in many deaths and prompting Iranian authorities to cut off the country’s internet.

US tariffs on countries that trade with Iran

In addition to the threat of military action, Trump has warned countries engaging in trade with Iran that they face 25 percent tariffs on any business done with the US. 

He announced the decision in a social media post on Monday, stating that it was “final and conclusive” but offering few additional details.

The move drew a scathing response from China. In a statement issued in Washington, DC, the Chinese embassy said Beijing “firmly opposes any illicit unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction” and will take “all necessary measures” to safeguard its interests.

As demonstrations continued and security restrictions tightened, Washington, which does not have formal diplomatic relations with Tehran, also urged its citizens in Iran to flee the country immediately via Armenia or Turkiye.

“Leave Iran now. Have a plan for departing Iran that does not rely on US government help,” the US virtual embassy in Iran said in a security alert issued on Tuesday.

The Iranian government has “restricted access to mobile, landline, and national internet networks” while airlines “continue to limit or cancel flights to and from Iran” with several suspending services until Friday, the alert said.

Internet blackout continues

Iran’s internet has been shut down for more than 100 hours, the London-based cybersecurity monitor NetBlocks said with national connectivity levels continuing to flatline at about 1 percent of ordinary levels.

Despite restrictions on phone networks, mobile phone users in Iran were briefly able to make international calls on Tuesday, The Associated Press news agency reported, although it was unable to return calls to those numbers.

The Iranians who spoke to AP said SMS text messaging was still down and internet users in Iran could connect to government-approved websites locally but nothing abroad.

They described seeing a heavy security presence in central Tehran with antiriot police officers wearing helmets and body armour and carrying shotguns, tear gas launchers and shields posted at important intersections.

Witnesses said several banks and government offices were burned during the unrest, adding that banks were struggling to complete transactions without the internet.

Reporting from Tehran, Al Jazeera’s Tohid Asadi said Araghchi said internet access would soon be restored, but the timeline for that was unclear.

The apparent easing of restrictions on international calls “could be interpreted as the government understanding that the situation should be cooled down”, he said.

He said hundreds of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets on Monday night in rallies in support of the government, a turnout that authorities were “trying to sell” as evidence that the public is on their side.

He said the government was continuing to stick to its position of trying to differentiate between the protesters’ economic and political demands, saying it understood the legitimate grievances over the rising cost of living and the plummeting rial, but warning it would not stand for political unrest.

“The state says on the one hand it understands the complicated economic situation for the people but it’s not going to tolerate any unrest,” he said.