Iran says it’s ‘not seeking war but fully prepared’ after Trump threats
Al Jazeera :
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has alleged that nationwide protests have “turned violent and bloody to give an excuse” for United States President Donald Trump to intervene militarily in the country.
Iran is fully prepared for conflict but also ready for negotiations, its foreign minister said on Monday, as US President Donald Trump said the Iranian leadership was seeking talks after he threatened to intervene militarily over a crackdown on protests.
Araghchi also told foreign diplomats in Tehran on Monday that the violence spiked over the weekend but the “situation is now under total control”.
He said Trump’s warning of military action against Tehran should ?protests turn ?violent motivated “terrorists” ?to target protesters and security forces ?to invite foreign intervention. “We are ready for war but also for dialogue,” he added.
Araghchi also said Iran has footage of weapons being distributed to protesters, adding authorities will soon release confessions of detainees.
The demonstrations were “stoked and fuelled” by foreign elements, he said, noting security forces would “hunt down” those responsible.
Nearly 500 protesters and 48 security personnel have been killed in two weeks of protests, a US-based rights group says.
Iran’s spiralling protests have entered a third week amid a nationwide internet blackout and repeated military intervention threats from Trump.
Iran’s government has declared three days of national mourning for the “martyrs” killed during the protests, including members of the security forces.
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 higher and includes dozens of protesters.
Initially prompted by anger over the rising cost of living, the demonstrations have evolved into nationwide protests and a serious challenge to the government in place since the 1979 Iranian Revolution.
The Fars news agency reported that limited protests took place in several neighbourhoods of the capital on Sunday night.
There were limited “riots” in the Navvab and Saadat Abad neighbourhoods of Tehran, Junqan and Hafshejan in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province, and Taybad of Mashhad, which were dispersed by security forces, according to Fars.
The agency reported that the other cities and regions in the country were generally calm without “riots” overnight.
On Monday, Iranian media showed reported footage of pro-government rallies on its Telegram channels from various cities, including a vast one in Tehran, attended by thousands.
State-run agencies showed footage of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian attending the rally in Tehran.
In the footage shared by the Tasnim News Agency, he was seen greeting flag-waving citizens, while marching among them.
Meanwhile, Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, called the government’s response to the situation a “war against terrorists”, as he addressed the gathering in the capital.
Iran is fighting a “four-front war”, he said, listing economic war, psychological war, “military war” with the US and Israel and “today a war against terrorists”.
A nationwide internet blackout has entered its fourth day, according to reports, a move widely criticised by human rights organisations.
Connectivity watchdog NetBlocks reported internet service across Iran is still down, describing the situation as a “national internet blackout”.
It has now been 84 hours since the country last had consistent connectivity. NetBlocks noted, however, that some Iranians have developed methods to bypass the restrictions.
There have been fewer videos showing protests on social media recently due to the internet shutdown.
United Kingdom-based Amnesty International slammed the practice on Friday as a way of hiding “violations in escalating deadly crackdowns on protesters”.
Araghchi said internet service would soon be restored and the government was coordinating with the security establishment to make progress on that.
He said connections would be restored at embassies and government ministries too.
Iran’s leadership wants to show the situation in the country is under control, and that is why the internet will be turned back on, Mehran Kamrava, an Iran analyst at Georgetown University in Qatar, told Al Jazeera.
Araghchi “doesn’t want to lose face”, he added, “but what we’re seeing is a multipronged approach” by Iran to end the turmoil.
Al Jazeera’s Tohid Asadi, reporting from Tehran, said the remarks by Araghchi are “part of the same rhetoric that we have been hearing from different Iranian political figures”.
“Basically, there are three components we have to keep in mind when it comes to this particular discourse,” he said.
First, Asadi said, Iranian officials have been expressing that they recognise people’s “right to take part in peaceful protests” due to the economic difficulties they are facing.
Second, he said, they are saying the country is also witnessing “unrest flaring up into violence” that has been going on since Thursday, resulting in fatalities, injuries and arrests, and stressing the deaths of Iranian security officers.
Al Jazeera’s correspondent said the third component that made the situation “even more complicated” was “rising security concerns related to foreign intervention”.
As protests persist despite a security crackdown, Trump said on Sunday that the US is considering “strong options” in response to the situation in Iran, including possible military intervention.
“We’re looking at it very seriously. The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options. We’ll make a determination,” he told reporters on board Air Force One, adding that Iran’s leaders have called “to negotiate” after his threats of military action and a “meeting is being set up”.
Earlier on Sunday, Speaker Ghalibaf warned the US against “a miscalculation”.
“Let us be clear, in the case of an attack on Iran, the occupied territories [Israel] as well as all US bases and ships will be our legitimate target,” said Ghalibaf, a former commander in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Iran faced a 12-day war with Israel and the US last year when Israel attacked in June and Washington bombed the country’s three primary nuclear sites.
The war killed hundreds of civilians, military commanders and scientists, and Tehran responded by launching hundreds of ballistic missiles at Israel, killing 28 people.
Since the protests have broken out, Pezeshkian has pledged to take action on the economy.
In the interview with state TV on Sunday, Pezeshkian ?also accused ??the US and Israel ?of wanting to “sow chaos and disorder” ?by ordering “riots”, and he called ?upon Iranians ?to ?distance themselves from “rioters and ?terrorists”.
The protests have become one of the biggest challenges to the rule of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, 86, coming in the wake of the 12-day war.
State TV has aired images of burning buildings, including a mosque, as well as funeral processions for security personnel.