US President Donald Trump has said that the United States has an “armada” headed toward Iran, renewing warnings to Tehran over the killing of protesters and the potential restart of its nuclear programme.
Trump’s comments came on Thursday as he returned from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and were part of an escalating standoff following internal unrest in Iran and tensions over its nuclear activities.
US warships, air defence headed to Middle East
US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to news agency Reuters, said the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and several guided-missile destroyers are expected to arrive in the Middle East in the coming days.
Also read: Iran protest death toll crosses 4,000, state TV hacked amid crackdownAdditional air-defense systems are also being considered to protect US forces and bases in the region, underscoring Washington’s bolstered military options.
“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,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.
Also read: Iranians in India recount Tehran horror He reiterated that the deployment was intended to deter Iranian actions and that the US “might not have to use it.”
'We have an armada. We have a massive fleet heading in that direction. Maybe we won't have to use it. We'll see", Trump said.
Renewed nuclear warning to Iran
The US President also renewed warnings to Tehran against restarting its nuclear programme, saying the US would act again if Iran resumed enrichment activities.
"If they try to do it again, they have to go to another area. We'll hit them there too, just as easily," he said.
He also repeated his claim that Iran halted nearly 840 planned executions of protesters after his threats.
"I said: 'If you hang those people, you're going to be hit harder than you've ever been hit. It'll make what we did to your Iran nuclear (program) look like peanuts,'" Trump said.
Trump’s statement comes amid heightened tensions following a nationwide protest movement in Iran that erupted in late December over economic hardship and has been met with a severe crackdown, resulting in thousands of deaths, according to rights groups and Iranian sources.
Iran says ‘finger on the trigger’
Iran has responded firmly to rising US pressure. General Mohammad Pakpour, the commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), warned the United States and Israel against “miscalculations,” saying the Guards had their “finger on the trigger” and were prepared to carry out orders from the country’s supreme leader if threatened.
"The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and dear Iran have their finger on the trigger, more prepared than ever, ready to carry out the orders and measures of the supreme commander-in-chief," he said, as per news agency AFP.
Pakpour's remarks were made in a written statement that was cited by state television, commemorating Iran's national day dedicated to the Guards, whose role is to safeguard the Islamic revolution of 1979 from both internal and external dangers.
Another high-ranking military official, General Ali Abdollahi Aliabadi, who heads the Iranian joint command headquarters, cautioned that should the United States launch an attack, "all US interests, bases, and centers of influence" would be considered "legitimate targets" for Iran's military forces.
Protest toll disputed amid internet blackout
Iranian authorities on Wednesday released their first official death toll from the recent protests, saying 3,117 people were killed.
The figures were issued by Iran’s foundation for martyrs and veterans, which said 2,427 of those killed were “martyrs”, defined as members of the security forces or innocent bystanders, while others were described as US-backed “rioters”.
President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Thursday that protest is “the natural right of citizens”, but added that a distinction must be made between protesters and those “whose hands are stained with the blood of innocent people”, reported AFP.
Rights groups, however, dispute the official figures, saying the actual toll could be far higher. Iran Human Rights (IHR) said it has verified at least 3,428 killings so far, while the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) has documented 4,902 deaths.
HRANA also said at least 26,541 people have been arrested.
Efforts to independently verify the scale of the crackdown have been hampered by a nationwide internet shutdown, which has now lasted more than two weeks, according to internet monitor Netblocks.
IHR director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said evidence emerging from inside Iran suggests the real death toll is “far higher than the official figure”, calling the authorities’ numbers lacking in credibility, as per AFP.