Iran warns US troops and Israel will be targets if America strikes over protests as death toll rises
Nationwide protests challenging Iran’s theocracy saw protesters flood the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city into Sunday, crossing the two-week mark as violence surrounding the demonstrations has killed at least 116 people, activists said.
With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. But the death toll in the protests has grown, while 2,600 others have been detained, according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency.
Meanwhile, Iran’s parliament speaker warned the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America strikes the Islamic Republic, as threatened by President Donald Trump. Qalibaf made the threat as lawmakers rushed the dais in the Iranian parliament, shouting: “Death to America!”
Those abroad fear the information blackout will embolden hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown, despite warnings from Trump he’s willing to strike the Islamic Republic to protect peaceful demonstrators.
Trump offered support for the protesters, saying on social media that “Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!!” The New York Times and Wall Street Journal, citing anonymous U.S. officials, said on Saturday night that Trump had been given military options for a strike on Iran, but hadn’t made a final decision.
The State Department separately warned: “Do not play games with President Trump. When he says he’ll do something, he means it.”
Parliament rallies
Iranian state television broadcast the parliament session live. Qalibaf, a hard-liner who has run for the presidency in the past, gave a speech applauding police and Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, particularly its all-volunteer Basij, for having “stood firm” during the protests.
“The people of Iran should know that we will deal with them in the most severe way and punish those who are arrested,” Qalibaf said.
He went on to directly threaten Israel, “the occupied territory” as he referred to it, and the U.S. military, possibly with a preemptive strike.
“In the event of an attack on Iran, both the occupied territory and all American military centers, bases and ships in the region will be our legitimate targets,” Qalibaf said. “We do not consider ourselves limited to reacting after the action and will act based on any objective signs of a threat.”
It remains unclear just how serious Iran is about launching a strike, particularly after seeing its air defenses destroyed during the 12-day war in June with Israel. Any decision to go to war would rest with Iran’s 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The U.S. military has said in the Mideast it is “postured with forces that span the full range of combat capability to defend our forces, our partners and allies and U.S. interests.” Iran targeted U.S. forces at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar back in June, while the U.S. Navy’s Mideast-based 5th Fleet is stationed in the island kingdom of Bahrain.
Protests in Tehran and Mashhad
