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Trump says weighing tough response to Iran crackdown, says Tehran called to negotiate

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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!!!”

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Iran says outcome of Israeli elections ‘makes no difference’

Tuesday’s legislative elections will take place amid mounting threats by Israel and the United States to renew attacks on Iran after they launched their war in late February.

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Iran’s foreign ministry said Monday that the outcome of the Israeli elections in which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing a tight race will make “no difference”, AFP reported.

“It makes no difference to us who, in these elections, takes the helm of a regime that has brought nothing but violence and massacres to our region,” said ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei in a weekly press briefing.

Tuesday’s legislative elections will take place amid mounting threats by Israel and the United States to renew attacks on Iran after they launched their war in late February.

Netanyahu has in recent days repeatedly said the only way to remove the threat posed by Iran is to topple its government.

On Sunday, he told Israel’s Channel 14 that he had “instructed the Mossad and the IDF to overthrow the Iranian regime”.

Baqaei dismissed Netanyahu’s remarks as “empty threats” and a “sign of desperation”.

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Officials from Mecca pact countries to meet Iranian officials in Tehran

Pakistan’s military media wing and Turkey’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

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Top officials from Mecca Pact countries ​Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan are to meet Iran’s leaders in Tehran on Monday in their first high-level contact since the kingdom became a pressure point in ‌the wider Iran conflict, Reuters reported.

Saudi Arabia will be represented by Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman, Pakistan by army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, and Turkey by intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin, Saudi and Iranian officials said.

Attacks by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis have spiralled in recent weeks and rhetoric between Washington and Tehran has grown more heated. Both countries have also drawn up plans to restart the wider war, possibly after the US midterm elections on November ​3.

Monday’s planned talks will be the first high-level contact between Iran and all members of the three-nation bloc since Saudi Arabia was drawn deeper into the conflict. Under the Mecca ​Joint Defence Agreement signed in August, an armed attack on one member is considered an attack on all.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei ⁠said on Monday discussions on regional security would include “Israel’s expansionist policies, developments in the Palestinian territories and Lebanon, and the repercussions of US and Israeli military action against Iran.”

Baghaei said the meeting, ​proposed during a visit by Munir to Tehran last week, could be a first step towards establishing regional security mechanisms based on the interests of countries in the region.

Qatari mediators met Iranian officials ​in Tehran on Sunday in a push to de-escalate regional tensions, Reuters reported. Qatar has, for months, played a mediating role between Tehran and Washington.

A senior Iranian official said the meeting was initiated by Pakistan, during Munir’s visit to Tehran, as he met Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and other senior officials. During the visit, Iranian officials told him there would be no talks with Washington until Tehran’s demands were met, according to Iranian media.

Earlier ​mediation efforts involving both Pakistan and Qatar helped produce an interim peace agreement in June, but the deal quickly unravelled as fighting between Iran and the United States resumed weeks later.

The ​deputy secretary of Iran’s top security body, Ali Baqeri-Kani, told state TV that Saudi Defence Minister Prince Khalid, Pakistan’s Munir and Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin would visit Tehran for consultations with Iran’s Supreme National Security ‌Council on ⁠regional security.

Saudi Deputy Minister for Public Diplomacy Rayed Krimly said the meeting is part of ongoing efforts by the Mecca Pact countries to de-escalate the current crisis, promote diplomatic solutions, and support mediation efforts led by Qatar and Pakistan.”The visit also underscores the pivotal role of the Mecca Pact states in fostering regional security and stability, and their commitment to working with all nations in the region toward achieving this goal,” Krimly posted on X.

Pakistan’s military media wing and Turkey’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Saudi Arabia intercepted another wave of missiles and ​drones on Sunday as fighting with the Houthis ​continued unabated.

Ministers from the Mecca Pact countries ⁠held an emergency meeting in Riyadh earlier this month and agreed to ensure the “rapid deployment” of military forces and capabilities in Saudi Arabia.

The Houthi attacks have become an increasingly destabilising element in the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, turning US ally Saudi Arabia into a pressure point in the wider ​war.

Tensions between Washington and Tehran have sharpened in recent days. President Donald Trump said on Friday the US may carry out another ​military operation against Iran and ⁠Iran’s leaders have said that a renewed US military campaign would be met with a stronger response than before.

Iranian security officials have told Reuters that Tehran has drawn up detailed plans to hit Gulf undersea cables if the United States and Israel attack again. A US intelligence memo this week warned that Iranian plots against American personnel had reached “advanced stages”.

The war, now nearly eight months old, has weighed ⁠on President Donald ​Trump’s approval ratings ahead of the midterms.

The Mecca agreement’s first article says the parties shall use “all necessary means” to ​eliminate threats to one another’s territorial integrity, sovereignty or internationally recognised borders, according to a text seen by Reuters.

Efforts by Turkey’s parliament to ratify the agreement began last week and are still underway, while Pakistan approved the pact last ​week.

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Iran tells Pakistan army chief no talks with Washington until demands are met

The demands include ending a US ​blockade on its ports, the lifting of sanctions on its oil exports ​as well as ending hostilities on all regional fronts.

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Iran told Pakistan’s army chief on Tuesday that there would be no talks with Washington until Tehran’s ​demands were met, Iranian media reported, underscoring its hardening stance despite ‌mediation efforts by key interlocutor Pakistan.

President Masoud Pezeshkian discussed mediation efforts and regional developments with Field Marshal Asim Munir in Tehran, according to Nournews.

Pakistan is a key intermediary between ​the United States and Iran. Earlier mediation efforts helped produce an interim ​peace agreement in June, but the Islamabad Memorandum quickly unravelled ⁠as fighting between Iran and the US resumed weeks after.

Munir also met ​Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, who said Washington could not regain Tehran’s ​trust until it fulfilled seven conditions Iran set last month for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, according to an Iranian readout of the meeting.

The demands include ending a US ​blockade on its ports, the lifting of sanctions on its oil exports ​as well as ending hostilities on all regional fronts.

Iran’s security chief, Mohsen Rezaei, ‌delivered a similar ⁠message during a separate meeting with Munir, saying there would be no talks with Washington until Tehran’s demands were met, according to Iranian media.

Rezaei also said all enriched nuclear materials would remain in Iran, reiterating Supreme Leader ​Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei’s position ​that near-weapons-grade uranium ⁠should not be shipped abroad.

US Vice President JD Vance said earlier this month that Iran must make a “meaningful” reduction ​in its uranium enrichment capacity to satisfy US demands and ​end ⁠the countries’ eight-month-old war.

Israel, the United States and other Western states have long accused Iran of seeking nuclear weapons, including pointing to its move to ⁠enrich uranium ​to 60%, far higher than needed for ​civilian uses and closer to the 90% needed for a weapon.

Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons.

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