US citizens should ‘leave Iran now’, says US state department
The US state department has said US citizens should leave Iran now and “if safe to do so, consider departing Iran by land to Armenia or Türkiye”.
The US virtual embassy for Iran says citizens should “plan alternative means of communication” due to “continued internet outages” and “have a plan for departing that does not rely on US government help”.
Key events
Further to that, Donald Trump has just told reporters after Air Force One landed at Joint Base Andrews that his administration would look at the “whole situation that’s going on in Iran”. “It’s really bad stuff,” Trump said, adding:
Iran is on my mind when I see the kind of death that is happening there.
We’ll get some accurate numbers as to what’s happening with regard to the killing.
The killing looks like it’s significant, but we don’t know yet for certain. I’ll know within 20 minutes, and we’ll act accordingly.
Trump says US will take ‘very strong action’ if Iran hangs protesters
Donald Trump has said the United States would take “very strong action” if the Iranian government starts hanging protesters, but did not elaborate on what those actions would be.
“I haven’t heard about the hanging. If they hang them, you’re going to see some things … We will take very strong action if they do such a thing,” Trump told CBS News in Dearborn, Michigan.
Trump said he was aware a “pretty substantial number” of people have been killed over the more than two weeks of demonstrations, and reiterated that “there’s a lot of help on the way” for Iranian citizens in “different forms” including economic assistance.
He also mentioned the US airstrikes last year targeting three of Iran’s nuclear facilities to CBS News, though he didn’t give any further specifics.
When asked what his end game is in Iran, the US president said:
The end game is to win. I like winning.
And asked what “winning” means, he reeled off a list of military operations from his first and second terms, adding:
We don’t want to see what’s happening in Iran happen. And you know, if they want to have protests, that’s one thing, when they start killing thousands of people, and now you’re telling me about hanging — we’ll see how that works out for them. It’s not going to work out good.
The day so far
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Donald Trump has urged protesters in Iran to (at grave personal risk) “keep protesting” and “take over” their institutions, declaring that “help is on its way” – but has not given solid details about what that means. The US president hinted that direct military intervention could be imminent, and also announced that he was cancelling meetings with Iranian officials “until the senseless killing” stops. His vice-president JD Vance, who had reportedly been urging Trump to try diplomacy first, is currently chairing a a National Security Council principals meeting on Iran. It’s unclear if Trump, who is leaning towards fresh military strikes, will join.
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By one count, US broadcaster CBS has the death toll of at least 12,000 people – and potentially as high as 20,000. CBS said it received that number from two sources within Iran through phone calls. Those sources have cited the number being given by activist groups on the ground tallying medical records from hospitals. The Iranian regime has not provided any official numbers. Reuters cited an unnamed official today saying about 2,000 people had been killed in the past fortnight of protests.
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Meanwhile, the family of Iranian protester Erfan Soltani, who was arrested on Thursday, have said that he will be executed tomorrow. They told the BBC that the government is using “every tactic they know to suppress people and spread fear”.
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Elon Musk’s SpaceX is offering people in Iran free internet through Starlink’s satellite service, according to Bloomberg News, as the internet blackout in the country surpassed the five-day mark. The subscription fee has been waived so that people with receivers in Iran can access service without paying, according to Bloomberg’s report.
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Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff met in secret with Reza Pahlavi, the exiled former Iranian crown prince, last weekend, Axios reported. A senior US official told the outlet the pair discussed the protests. In previous messages that have been blocked by the Iranian government internet shutdown, he has said that he is ready to lead a transition. He has also pushed for a referendum and nonviolent change in the country.
US vice-president JD Vance is due to chair a National Security Council principals meeting on Iran that will get under way shortly around 4pm ET.
It’s unclear whether Donald Trump, who is still in Michigan and will head back to the White House later, will join the meeting.
Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal (paywall) reported that Vance has been leading the charge within the Trump administration to urge the US president to try to engage in diplomacy before retaliating against the Iranian regime.
Trump has been leaning toward military strikes, according to the WSJ’s report, and as we reported earlier, the US president said he has “canceled all meetings with the Iranian officials, until the senseless killing of protesters stops”.
Musk reportedly offers free Starlink in Iran as internet blackout persists
Elon Musk’s SpaceX is offering people in Iran free internet through Starlink’s satellite service, according to Bloomberg News, as the internet blackout in the country surpassed the five-day mark.
The subscription fee has been waived so that people with receivers in Iran can access service without paying, according to Bloomberg’s report.
Trump says again ‘all meetings’ cancelled until ‘killing of protesters stops’
Donald Trump gave a speech on affordability at the Economic Club in Detroit on Tuesday, where he repeated his earlier comments on Iran.
The US president said: “I’ve canceled all meetings with the Iranian officials, until the senseless killing of protesters stops.”
In the past Trump has threatened the Iranian military with strikes as a means of getting Tehran into greater alignment with the US demands. He also announced on Monday that any country that does business with Iran will be subjected to a 25 percent tariff.
When asked today if Trump’s administration has advised US allies to evacuate from Iran by FT journalist Abigail Hauslohner, the president responded: “They should get out. It’s a good idea.”
Trump’s envoy secretly met Iran’s exiled crown prince
Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff met in secret with Reza Pahlavi last weekend, Axios reports. Pahlavi is the son of Iran’s last shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and left Iran before his father was forced out in 1978, living mainly in Los Angeles and Washington DC since then.
In previous messages that have been blocked by the Iranian government internet shutdown, he has said that he is ready to lead a transition. He has also pushed for a referendum and nonviolent change in the country.
The exiled prince has welcomed the fact that Iran could become a constitutional monarchy with an elected ruler, instead of a hereditary one. In a post on X in June last year, he wrote: “There is only one way to achieve peace: a secular, democratic Iran. I am here today to submit myself to my compatriots to lead them down this road to peace and a democratic transition.”
There have been no details published about the weekend’s meeting between Pahlavi and Witkoff.
‘People must figure it out,’ Trump says when asked about US help for Iran’s protesters
While travelling, Trump addressed his earlier social media post that claimed “help is on the way”. When asked what he meant by this he responded: “You’re going to have to figure that one out. I’m sorry,” according to Axios.
We already know Trump is considering how to apply pressure on the Iranian regime following its deadly crackdown on protesters. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Monday that airstrikes were among the “many, many options” being considered but that “diplomacy is always the first option for the president”.
Arrested protester facing execution tomorrow
There are reports that one of the many thousands of protesters arrested last week, Erfan Soltani, is facing imminent execution after being tried, convicted and sentenced since his arrest last Thursday.
The 26-year-old was arrested in Karaj, a city just on the north-west outskirts of Tehran, at the peak of the protests before the internet black-out.
The BBC’s Persian language service has spoken to one of his relatives who said: “within just two days, the court issued a death sentence, and the family was told that he is due to be executed on Wednesday”.
Amnesty International has highlighted his case, warning of concerns that Iranian authorities might “once again resort to swift trials and arbitrary executions to crush and deter dissent”.
AFP reports that Iranian prosecutors today said they would be charging some protesters, whom they called “rioters”, with offences punishable by death.
Iran is the world’s most prolific executioner after China, according to monitors. Last year, it hanged at least 1,500 people, Norway-based Iran Human Rights group said.
More than 12,000 killed in Iran – CBS
US broadcaster CBS now is also reporting a death toll of at least 12,000 people in Iran, potentially as high as 20,000.
CBS says it’s received that number from two sources within Iran through phone calls. Those sources have cited the number being given by activist groups on the ground tallying medical records from hospitals.
The Iranian regime has not provided any official numbers. Reuters news agency cited an unnamed official today saying about 2,000 people had been killed in the past fortnight of protests.
US House foreign affairs panel urges Iranians to ‘make regime change inevitable’
The US House Foreign Affairs Committee has also pushed out a strong message on X following Trump’s missive earlier. The tone from US officials has escalated.
“To the Iranian people: Ayatollah Khamanei has butchered your people, made rial the weakest currency in the world, and squandered your country’s resources.
“Make regime change inevitable.”
There’s been further information coming out today partly because the regime has allowed people to make some phone calls abroad.
Iranians are able to use their mobiles to make calls outside the country but they still can’t receive calls, Associated Press reports citing people in Tehran.
The co-ordinated blackout is still in place. The internet has been down for four days now, and texting services blocked too.
Verifying the death toll or even just assessing the scale of violence has been so difficult because we’ve only seen snippets of videos from inside Iran.
However, the footage that has reached Western media include horrific scenes such as scores of body bags lining the street outside a morgue in the capital.
Increasing reports of death toll spiking into thousands
We are getting more reports of a casualty number in the several thousands – far more than that of any other round of protest or unrest in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
At least 2,000 people have been killed – 1,850 of them being protesters – says the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency – which has tracked Iran protests for more than 20 years. Yesterday the group had said it had only so far identified about 500 casualties. It adds that more than 16,000 protesters have been arrested.
Meanwhile, Iran International has concluded that 12,000 people were killed at protests on 8 and 9 January.
The Persian-language television news channel is based in the UK and has been linked to the Saudi government. It’s based its count on sources in the country and medical data.
Based on available data and cross-checking information obtained from reliable sources, including the Supreme National Security Council and the presidential office, the initial estimate by the Islamic Republic’s security institutions is that at least 12,000 people were killed in this nationwide killing.”
European countries summon Iran ambassadors
France, Germany, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, the UK, Finland and Denmark have all announced this afternoon that they have summoned Iran’s respective ambassadors in their countries to their foreign ministries to formally object to the killings.
The German foreign ministry said: “The Iranian regime’s brutal crackdown on its own population is shocking,” while France’s foreign minister called it “state violence unquestioningly unleashed on peaceful protesters”.
Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, said: “We have summoned the Iranian ambassador in Spain to express our rejection of the violence against demonstrators and to urge respect for the fundamental rights of Iranians.”
We know Trump is assessing what, if any, military action he takes to exert pressure on the Iranian regime following its deadly crackdown.
Yesterday White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News the president was “unafraid to use the lethal force and might of the United States military if and when he deems that necessary” but that diplomacy was always preferred.
She also told reporters outside the White House:
Airstrikes would be one of the many, many options that are on the table for the commander-in-chief. Diplomacy is always the first option for the president.
Back to the Trump message where he urges Iranians to keep protesting and “take over your institutions”.
He’s also slammed the lid shut on the prospect of any meetings with Tehran.
Yesterday the Iranian foreign minister had said he’d been in touch with US special envoy Steve Witkoff and that communication channel remained open.
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also told reporters yesterday that the channel for diplomacy remained open, and Tehran was taking a “far different tone” in discussions with Witkoff.
But Trump today says he’s cancelled all meetings with officials “until the senseless killings of protesters STOPS”.
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