Donald Trump has said an American “armada” is heading towards the Middle East and that the US is monitoring Iran closely, as activists put the death toll from Tehran’s crackdown on protesters at 5,002.
Speaking on Air Force One, Trump said: “We have a lot of ships going that direction, just in case. I’d rather not see anything happen, but we’re watching them very closely.” The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and several guided-missile destroyers are due to arrive in the coming days, with additional air defence systems being deployed. The UK said it would send RAF Eurofighter Typhoon jets to Qatar.
Iran warned it would treat any attack “as an all-out war” and respond “in the hardest way possible”. The US president pulled back from attacking Iran two weeks ago, partly because he felt no military option would secure regime change, and was urged to hold back by Gulf states.
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said the death toll had reached 5,002, comprising 4,716 demonstrators, 203 government-affiliated people, 43 children and 40 civilians. HRANA said at least 26,541 people had been arrested. The protests began on 28 December and became the deadliest unrest since the 1979 revolution.
At the UN Human Rights Council, Volker Türk said thousands had been killed, including children, and urged Iran to “end their brutal repression”. He expressed concern about possible executions of detainees, noting Iran executed at least 1,500 people last year. The internet shutdown was the longest recorded in Iran.
