The United States stands by the “brave people of Iran,” and President Donald Trump “has made it clear all options are on the table to stop the slaughter,” U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz told the U.N. Security Council on Thursday.

Trump has repeatedly threatened to intervene in support of protesters in Iran, where thousands of people have been reported killed in a crackdown on the protests against clerical rule, Reuters reported.

But on Thursday, Trump adopted a wait‑and‑see posture, saying he had been told that the killings were easing and that he believed there was no current plan for large-scale executions.

“President Trump is a man of action, not endless talk like we see at the United Nations. He has made it clear all options are on the table to stop the slaughter,” Waltz told the Security Council meeting, which Washington had requested.

Waltz dismissed allegations by Iran that the protests are “a foreign plot to give a precursor to military action.”

“Everyone in the world needs to know that the regime is weaker than ever before, and therefore is putting forward this lie because of the power of the Iranian people in the streets. They are afraid. They’re afraid of their own people,” Waltz said.

Iran’s Deputy U.N. Ambassador Gholamhossein Darzi said Iran does not seek escalation or confrontation and accused Waltz of resorting “to lies, distortion of facts, and a deliberate misinformation campaign to conceal his country’s direct involvement in steering unrest in Iran to violence.”

“However, any act of aggression – direct or indirect – will be met with a decisive, proportionate, and lawful response,” he told the Security Council. “This is not a threat; it is a statement of legal reality.”

Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia accused the United States of convening the Security Council in a bid to “justify blatant aggression and interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state” and threats to “solve the Iranian problem in its favorite way: through strikes aimed at overthrowing an undesirable regime.”

“We strongly urge the hot heads in Washington and other capitals … to come to their senses,” he said.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urges “maximum restraint at this sensitive moment and calls on all actors to refrain from any actions that could lead to further loss of life or ignite a wider regional escalation,” senior U.N. official Martha Pobee told the council.

“Loud and clear, again and again, we hear the Iranians lift their voices for a better life,” Denmark’s U.N. Ambassador Christina Markus Lassen told the Security Council. “For too long the leaders in Tehran have not heeded this call. The time has now come for the government of Iran to finally listen, to respond to the will of its people through peaceful means. We urge them to start today.”

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday urged Iranians to keep protesting and remember the names of those abusing them, saying help is on the way, as Iran’s clerical establishment pressed its crackdown against the biggest demonstrations in years.

Iran in turn accused Trump of encouraging political destabilization and inciting violence, Reuters reported.

“Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING – TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!!… HELP IS ON ITS WAY,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social, without saying what that help might be.

He said he had canceled all meetings with Iranian officials until the “senseless killing” of protesters stopped and in a later speech told Iranians to “save the name of the killers and the abusers … because they’ll pay a very big price.”

An Iranian official said about 2,000 people had been killed, the first time authorities have given an overall death toll from more than two weeks of nationwide unrest.

U.S.-based rights group HRANA said that of the 2,003 people whose deaths it had confirmed, 1,850 were protesters. It said 16,784 people had been detained, a sharp increase from the figure it gave on Monday.

Asked what he meant by “help is on its way”, Trump told reporters they would have to figure that out. Trump has said military action is among the options he is weighing to punish Iran over the crackdown.

“The killing looks like it’s significant, but we don’t know yet for certain,” said Trump upon returning to the Washington area from Detroit, adding he would know more after receiving a report on Tuesday evening about the Iran protests.

“We’ll act accordingly,” he said.

The U.S. State Department on Tuesday urged American citizens to leave Iran now including by land through Turkey or Armenia.

IRAN POINTS TO U.S. AND ISRAEL

Iranian authorities previously accused the U.S. and Israel of fomenting the unrest.

In response to Trump’s social media post that “help is on the way,” Iran’s U.N. Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani said the U.S. president was inciting violence, threatening the country’s sovereignty and security and seeking to destabilize the government.

“The United States and the Israeli regime bear direct and undeniable legal responsibility for the resulting loss of innocent civilian lives, particularly among the youth,” he wrote in a letter to the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday.

Russia on Tuesday condemned “subversive external interference” in Iran’s internal politics, saying any repeat of last year’s U.S. strikes would have “disastrous consequences” for the Middle East and international security.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Monday he had continued to communicate with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and that Tehran was studying ideas proposed by Washington.

TRUMP WARNS AGAINST ANY EXECUTIONS

In an interview with CBS News on Tuesday, Trump vowed “very strong action” if Iran started hanging protesters, but again did not elaborate. “If they hang them, you’re going to see some things,” Trump said.

According to the Norway-based Iran Human Rights Society, hangings are common in Iranian prisons.

Hengaw, an Iranian Kurdish rights group, has reported that a 26-year-old man, Erfan Soltani, arrested in connection with protests in the city of Karaj, will be executed on Wednesday. Authorities had told the family that the death sentence was final, Hengaw reported, citing a source close to the family.

Reuters could not independently confirm the report and state media has not reported any death sentences so far.

Communications restrictions, including an internet blackout have hampered the flow of information in Iran. The U.N. said phone service had been restored but the internet still faced restrictions.

Holistic Resilience, a U.S. organization that works to expand information access in repressive or closed societies, said on Tuesday that billionaire Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet service was now available for free in Iran.

The unrest, sparked by dire economic conditions, has posed the biggest internal challenge to Iran’s rulers for at least three years and has come at a time of intensifying international pressure after Israeli and U.S. strikes last year.

The U.S. president on Monday announced 25% import tariffs on products from any country doing business with Iran – a major oil exporter. China, which buys much of Iran’s oil exports, swiftly criticized the move.

NO SIGNS OF FRACTURE

The protests began on December 28 over the fall in value of the currency and have grown into wider demonstrations and calls for the fall of the clerical establishment.

Iran’s authorities have taken a dual approach, cracking down while also calling protests over economic problems legitimate. So far there are no signs of fracture in the security elite that could bring down the clerical system in power since a 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Britain, France, Germany and Italy all summoned Iranian ambassadors in protest over the crackdown.

“The rising number of casualties in Iran is horrifying,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen posted on X.

Underscoring international uncertainty over what comes next in Iran, which has been one of the dominant powers across the Middle East for decades, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he believed the government would fall.

“I assume that we are now witnessing the final days and weeks of this regime,” he said, adding that if it had to maintain power through violence, “it is effectively at its end”.

President Donald Trump said the U.S. may meet Iranian officials and was in contact with the opposition, as he weighed a range of strong responses including military options to escalating unrest posing one of the biggest challenges to clerical rule since the 1979 Islamic Revolution

Trump said Iran called to negotiate its nuclear programme, which Israel and the U.S. bombed in a 12-day war in June. Trump has warned Iran’s leaders that the United States would attack if security forces open fire on protesters, Reuters reported.

U.S.-based rights group HRANA said it had verified the deaths of 490 protesters and 48 security personnel, with more than 10,600 people arrested.

Iran has not given an official toll and Reuters was unable to independently verify the tallies.

Trump was to meet with senior advisers on Tuesday to discuss options for Iran, a U.S. 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.

“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters travelling on Air Force One on Sunday night.

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf warned Washington against “a miscalculation.”

“Let us be clear: 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,” said Qalibaf, a former commander in Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards.

DOZENS OF BODY BAGS

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.

Iranian authorities accused the U.S. and Israel of fomenting trouble and called for a nationwide rally on Monday to condemn “terrorist actions led by the United States and Israel,” state media reported.

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.

Footage posted on social media on Saturday from Tehran showed large crowds marching at night, clapping and chanting. The crowd “has no end nor beginning,” a man is heard saying.

State TV showed dozens of body bags on the ground at the Tehran coroner’s office, saying the dead were victims of events caused by “armed terrorists”, as well as footage of loved ones gathered outside the Kahrizak Forensic Medical Centre in Tehran waiting to identify bodies.

Reuters verified the locations.

Authorities on Sunday declared three days of national mourning “in honour of martyrs killed in resistance against the United States and the Zionist regime,” according to state media.

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 U.S. intervention.

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.

‘RIOTERS AND TERRORISTS’

While Iranian authorities have weathered previous protests, the latest have unfolded with Tehran still recovering from last year’s war and with its regional position weakened by blows to allies such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah since the October 7, 2023 attacks against Israel.

Iran’s unrest comes as Trump flexes U.S. muscles internationally, having ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, and discussing acquiring Greenland by purchase or force.

Alan Eyre, a former U.S. diplomat and Iran expert, thought it unlikely the protests would topple the establishment.

“I think it more likely that it puts these protests down eventually, but emerges from the process far weaker,” he told Reuters, noting that Iran’s elite still appeared cohesive and there was no organised opposition.

Trump, posting on social media on Saturday, said: “Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!!”