Fears of US strikes on Iran rise in Middle East; Iranian FM says \u201cthere is no plan\u201d to hang people
\n WASHINGTON
\nUS President Donald Trump said that killings in Iran\u2019s crackdown on nationwide protests were subsiding and he believed there was no plan for large-scale executions of protesters, as analysts and diplomats warned of possible risks from a US military intervention. Trump\u2019s comments during an Oval Office event come as fears have escalated in the Middle East that the United States could launch strikes on Iran, following the US president\u2019s repeated threats to intervene on behalf of protesters.
\nHe did not rule out possible US military intervention, however. Some experts and regional diplomats warn that military intervention could backfire by smothering protests, fueling an intensified crackdown on those who participated and triggering retaliatory Iranian missile attacks on US bases in the Middle East. In a more extreme scenario, several said, US strikes might hasten the government\u2019s collapse, possibly unleashing chaos across the nation of 90 million, encouraging insurgencies by minority Kurdish and Baluch separatists and leaving Iran\u2019s nuclear and missile programs unsecured.
\nStill, several US intelligence assessments earlier this week concluded that while the protests posed a serious challenge, the government did not appear close to collapsing, according to four knowledgeable sources. \u201cWe have restive ethnic minorities. We have loose undeclared fissile materials. We have dispersed missile stocks with no command and control, and we have had for over a decade refugee flows … and significant atrocities are happening,\u201d said Behnam Ben Taleblu, an analyst with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. \u201cAll the fears that would come with regime change would be expedited.\u201d
\nMeanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said \u201cthere is no plan\u201d by Iran to hang people, when asked about the anti-government protests in the Middle Eastern nation. \u201cThere is no plan for hanging at all,\u201d the foreign minister told Fox News in an interview on the \u201cSpecial Report with Bret Baier\u201d show.
\n\u201cHanging is out of the question,\u201d he said. The protests appear to be the biggest domestic challenge Iran\u2019s clerical establishment has faced since it took power in the 1979 Islamic Revolution, with massive crowds demanding the government\u2019s ouster and clashing with security forces.
\nAn Iranian official has said more than 2,000 people have died since the protests erupted on December 28. A rights group put the number of deaths at more than 2,600.
\nMany experts believe the toll is much higher. The White House and the Iranian delegation to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
\nTrump on Wednesday said \u201cvery important sources on the other side\u201d had reported that killings in Iran\u2019s crackdown were subsiding, and that he believed there was currently no plan for large-scale executions. He did not rule out potential US military action, saying \u201cwe are going to watch what the process is\u201d before noting the US administration received a \u201cvery good statement\u201d from Iran. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Fears of US strikes on Iran rise in Middle East; Iranian FM says \u201cthere is no plan\u201d to hang people WASHINGTON US President Donald Trump said that killings in Iran\u2019s crackdown on nationwide protests were subsiding and he believed there was no plan for large-scale executions of protesters, as analysts and diplomats warned of possible […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":480457,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-525856","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n