Iran

Iran’s supreme leader warned that any attack on the country by the United States would spark a “regional war” in the Middle East, following President Trump’s threats to intervene militarily in response to the Islamic Republic’s decision. Repression of recent nationwide protests.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s comments, made while speaking to a crowd at his compound in Tehran and cited by the Tasnim news agency, are the most direct threat he has made yet since the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier group arrived in international waters off Iran in the Persian Gulf.

Trump has also mentioned his desire to curb Iran’s nuclear program in his recent comments, but it is still unclear whether Trump will use force. He has repeatedly said that Iran wants to negotiate.

He had said he wanted to continue negotiations last year before deciding to attack Iran’s nuclear sites last June, supporting Israel’s 12-day war with the country. On Saturday, Trump declined to say whether he had decided what he wanted to do now regarding Iran.

In Tehran, Khamenei said the United States is interested in the country’s oil, natural gas and other mineral resources. He said the Americans wanted to “take over this country, just like they controlled it before.”

“Americans must be aware that if they fight a war this time, it will be a regional war,” he said.

The supreme leader added that: “We are not the instigators, we are not going to be unfair to anyone, we are not planning to attack any country. But if anyone shows greed and wants to attack or harass, the Iranian nation will deal a heavy blow to him.”

Speaking to reporters upon his arrival at the wedding of Dan Scavino, White House deputy chief of staff, and Erin Elmore, art director at the US State Department embassies, at Mar-a-Lago on Sunday, Trump reacted to Khamenei’s comments by saying: “Of course he’s going to say that.”

“We have the largest, most powerful ships in the world there, in a couple of days very close, and hopefully we will make a deal. If we don’t make a deal, then we will find out if he was right or wrong,” Trump said.

Khamenei also hardened his position on the recent demonstrations after previously acknowledging that some protesters had had legitimate economic grievances. The demonstrations began on December 28, initially over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency. It soon became a direct challenge to Khamenei’s government.

“The recent sedition was similar to a coup d’état,” he said. “Of course, the coup was suppressed. Their goal was to destroy sensitive and effective centers involved in the government of the country, and for this reason they attacked the police, government centers, (Revolutionary Guard) facilities, banks and mosques, and burned copies of the Quran. They targeted the centers that run the country.”

The US-based Human Rights Activist News Agency, which relies on a network of sources inside Iran to gather its information, says it has verified the deaths of 6,713 people, most of them protesters, and that authorities have detained at least 49,500 people so far. The News has not been able to independently assess death tolls and arrest figures as authorities have cut off Iran’s Internet access to the rest of the world. Other sources have told News themezone and other outlets that the actual death toll nationwide is substantially higher.

As of Jan. 21, Iran’s government put the death toll at a much lower 3,117, saying 2,427 were civilians and security forces, and calling the rest “terrorists.” In the past, the Iranian theocracy has underreported or underreported deaths caused by unrest.

Even this government figure exceeds the death toll reported in any other round of protests or unrest in Iran in decades and is reminiscent of the chaos surrounding the 1979 revolution.

Iran has planned a live-fire military exercise for Sunday and Monday in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all traded oil passes. The US military’s Central Command, which is the Pentagon’s regional combatant command for the Middle East, has warned against threatening US ships or warplanes during the drill or disrupting commercial traffic.