Trump signals possible intervention
\nIran asked US allies in the region to \u201cprevent Washington from attacking Iran,\u201d senior Iranian official says
\n Tehran
\nTehran has warned US allies in the Middle East it will strike US bases on their soil if Washington attacks Iran, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Wednesday, following President Donald Trump\u2019s threats to intervene in support of protesters.
\nThe death toll from Iran\u2019s unrest climbed to almost 2,600, a rights group said, as the clerical establishment seeks to quell nationwide protests posing one of the biggest challenges to their rule since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
\nDemonstrators have defied the authorities\u2019 zero-tolerance for dissent by turning out in protests all around the country, even as authorities insist they have regained the upper hand.
\nAccording to an Israeli assessment, Trump has decided to intervene but the scope and timing of this action remains unclear, an Israeli official said.
\nThe Iranian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Tehran had asked US allies in the region to \u201cprevent Washington from attacking Iran\u201d. \u201cTehran has told regional countries, from Saudi Arabia and UAE to Turkey, that US bases in those countries will be attacked\u201d if the US targets Iran, the official said.
\nThe official added that direct contacts between Iran\u2019s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff had been suspended, reflecting mounting tensions.
\nA second Israeli source, a government official, said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s security cabinet was briefed late on Tuesday about the chances of regime collapse or US intervention in Iran, an arch-foe with which Israel fought a 12-day war last year.
\nIn an interview with CBS News on Tuesday, Trump vowed \u201cvery strong action\u201d if Iran executes protesters. \u201cIf they hang them, you\u2019re going to see some things,\u201d he said. He also urged Iranians on Tuesday to keep protesting and take over institutions, declaring \u201chelp is on the way\u201d but without giving details.
\nFollowing Iran\u2019s warning, some personnel were advised to leave the US military\u2019s Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar by Wednesday evening, three diplomats told Reuters.
\nThe US embassy in Doha had no immediate comment. Al Udeid is the Middle East\u2019s largest US base, housing around 10,000 troops. Ahead of the US air strikes on Iran in June, some personnel were moved off US bases in the Middle East.
\nThe United States has forces across the region including in Bahrain, home to the headquarters of the US Navy\u2019s Fifth Fleet, and Qatar, which hosts Al Udeid Air Base\u2013the forward headquarters for US Central Command.
\nIran fired missiles at Al Udeid last year in retaliation for US airstrikes on its nuclear installations.
\nIRAN holds contacts with Turkiye, UAE, Qatar
\nIranian state media reported that the head of Iran\u2019s top security body, Ali Larijani, had spoken to the foreign minister of Qatar and Araqchi had spoken to his Emirati and Turkish counterparts. The countries are all US allies.
\nAraqchi told UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed that \u201ccalm has prevailed\u201d and that Iranians were determined to defend their sovereignty and security from any foreign interference, state media reported.
\nThe flow of information from Iran has been hampered by an internet blackout.
\nUS-based HRANA rights group said it had so far verified the deaths of 2,403 protesters and 147 government-affiliated individuals. An Iranian official told Reuters on Tuesday that about 2,000 people had been killed.
\nIranian authorities have accused the United States and Israel of fomenting the unrest, blaming violence on people it calls terrorists who have attacked security forces, mosques and public property.
\nIran vows fast trials over protests after Trump threat
\nMeanwhile, Iran vowed fast-track trials for people arrested over a massive wave of protests, after US President Donald Trump threatened \u201cvery strong action\u201d if the Islamic republic goes ahead with hangings.
\nIn Tehran, authorities held a funeral ceremony for over 100 members of the security forces and other \u201cmartyrs\u201d killed in the demonstrations, which authorities have branded as \u201criots\u201d while accusing protesters of waging \u201cacts of terror\u201d.
\nIran\u2019s judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei said on a visit to a prison holding protest detainees that \u201cif a person burned someone, beheaded someone and set them on fire then we must do our work quickly\u201d, in comments broadcast by state television.
\nIranian news agencies also quoted him as saying the trials should be held in public and said he had spent five hours in a prison in Tehran to examine the cases.
\nFootage broadcast by state media showed the judiciary chief seated before an Iranian flag in a large, ornate room in the prison, interrogating a prisoner himself.
\nThe detainee, dressed in grey clothing and his face blurred, is accused of taking Molotov cocktails to a park in Tehran.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Trump signals possible intervention Iran asked US allies in the region to \u201cprevent Washington from attacking Iran,\u201d senior Iranian official says Tehran Tehran has warned US allies in the Middle East it will strike US bases on their soil if Washington attacks Iran, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Wednesday, following President Donald Trump\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":525678,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-525662","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n