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Iran said it is keeping communications open with the US as President Donald Trump weighed responses to a deadly crackdown on nationwide protests, which pose one of the stiffest challenges to clerical rule since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Trump said the US may meet Iranian officials and he was in contact with Iran’s opposition, while piling pressure on its leaders, including threatening possible military action over lethal violence against protesters.
US-based rights group HRANA said it had verified the deaths of 544 people – 496 protesters and 48 security personnel, with 10,681 people arrested since the protests began on December 28 and spread around the country.
The flow of information from the Islamic republic has been hampered by an Internet blackout since Thursday.
Iran’s leaders are facing fierce demonstrations that evolved from complaints about dire economic hardships to defiant calls for the fall of the deeply entrenched clerical establishment, and with the country’s regional clout much reduced.
“The communication channel between our Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and the US special envoy (Steve Witkoff) is open and messages are exchanged whenever necessary,” a foreign ministry spokesperson said yesterday.
Contacts also remain open through traditional intermediary Switzerland, he said. Trump is to meet with senior advisers today to discuss options for Iran, a US official said.
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