Trump Eyes “Very Strong Options” In Iran Amid Protests That Have Claimed Hundreds Of Lives

Donald Trump has told reporters that he is considering very serious military options against Iran after reports that hundreds of protesters have been killed.

Speaking to the press on Air Force One on Sunday, the president also said that Iran had been in contact with the U.S. to negotiate and officials were in the process of setting up a meeting.

“We’re looking at it very seriously,” Trump said. “The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options. We’ll make a determination.”

“We'll consider things targets that they wouldn’t believe.”

It comes as Iran enters its third week of protests, initially triggered by the Iranian rial’s decline against the U.S. dollar before evolving into broader anti-government demonstrations.

According to non-profit human rights activists in Iran, more than 544 people have been killed and 10,681 have been arrested as nationwide protests swept across 31 provinces.

Its news agency, HRANA, said that eight children and 483 protesters were among those killed, as well as 47 members of law enforcement and five non-protesting civilians.

Iranians have also gone without internet access for several days after the government imposed a nationwide blackout, cutting internet service across the country.

NetBlocks, a global internet monitoring organization, reported that Iran’s connectivity to the outside world remains at around only 1% of normal levels.

Trump had earlier threatened to intervene if Iran killed innocent protesters, writing on Truth Social on January 2 that the U.S. was “locked and loaded.”

“If Iran shots [sic] and violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue,” Trump wrote. “We are locked and loaded and ready to go.”

On Sunday, Trump said that Iran had been in touch the day prior and wanted to negotiate with the U.S.

“The leaders of Iran called, they want to negotiate,” Trump said. “I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States.”

He added, “We may meet with them, a meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what is happening before the meeting.”

In a televised interview, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian had described protesters as “terrorists” and claimed that protesters were “taking orders” from the U.S. and Israel.

Then, on Sunday, three days of national mourning were announced to remember what Iran described as “martyrs killed in Iranian national battle against the U.S. and Israel.”

Iranian authorities have threatened retaliation for any U.S. intervention in the country, with its Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf warning on Sunday that American and Israeli military bases in the Middle East could be targeted.

“In the case of an attack on Iran, the occupied territories [Israel] as well as all U.S. bases and ships will be our legitimate target,” Ghalibaf said, according to Al Jazeera.

It comes as graphic footage was released online showing heaps of body bags at the Kahrizak Forensic Medical Center in Tehran.

HRANA said it received footage on January 10 showing dozens of lifeless bodies in a large hall as families searched the remains for their relatives.

In videos shared online, people can be heard screaming and crying in distress as they identify loved ones, with HRANA estimating that around 250 bodies can be seen in the footage.

While state broadcaster IRIB released a video report just days later from a “large warehouse” showing numerous bodies, it attributed those killings to “protesters.”

Footage obtained and authenticated by BBC Verify also shows Iran’s security forces shooting protesters in Tehran, the western Kermanshah province, and the southern Bushehr region.

The protests are the most significant since the nationwide unrest of 2022, which was triggered by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after she was detained in Tehran by Iran’s so-called morality police for allegedly violating hijab rules.

Her death sparked protests across the country, with demonstrators denouncing police violence and openly burning headscarves, calling for greater personal freedoms, an end to compulsory veiling laws, and, in many cases, the overthrow of the Islamic Republic itself.

As well as protests in Iran itself, demonstrations have spread globally, with protesters gathering across Europe and beyond to express solidarity and demand change.