Iran warns it will strike Israel and US bases in response to attack on Tehran
Iran has warned that it will strike Israel and US military bases, in the event of strikes on Iranian territory following weeks of escalating protests in the country.
At least 192 people have been killed in the largest protest against the Iranian government for over three years, according to Iran Human Rights.
The Norway-based NGO warned that the deaths "may be even more extensive than we currently imagine".
Iran has been under an internet blackout for over 60 hours, according to monitor Netblocks, making it difficult to verify information, including the death toll.
US President Donald Trump has threatened to intervene in recent days, warning Iranian leaders against using force on protesters. He warned on Saturday that the US stood "ready to help".
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"Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!!" he wrote on Truth Social.
Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the speaker of Iran's parliament, warned on Sunday against "a miscalculation".
"Let us be clear: in the case of an attack on Iran, the occupied territories [Israel] as well as all US bases and ships will be our legitimate target," said Qalibaf, a former commander in Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Sunday that the US and Israel want to "sow chaos and disorder" in Iran by ordering "riots", and called upon Iranians to distance themselves from "rioters and terrorists".
Three Israeli sources who were present at Israeli security consultations over the weekend told Reuters that Israel was on high-alert footing, but did not elaborate on what that entailed.
Israel and Iran fought a 12-day war in June, during which the US joined Israel in striking Iranian soil.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed the possibility of US intervention in Iran, according to an Israeli source cited by Reuters present for the conversation.
A senior US intelligence official described the situation in Iran to Reuters as an "endurance game".
The official said that the opposition was trying to keep up pressure until key government figures either fled or switched sides, while the authorities were trying to sow enough fear to clear the streets without giving the US justification to intervene.
Israel has not, as yet, expressed any desire to intervene.
Netanyahu told the Economist on Friday that there would be horrible consequences for Iran if it were to attack Israel. Referring to the protests, he said: "Everything else, I think we should see what is happening inside Iran."
'Massacre unfolding'
The demonstrations began two weeks ago over rising inflation, but quickly turned political and became a movement against the Islamic Republic.
Despite the blackout, videos of large demonstrations in Tehran and other cities have filtered out. On Saturday night, footage showed rallies in the capital as well as Mashhad in the east, where vehicles were set on fire.
State television reported that "rioters" torched a mosque in Mashhad overnight.
Ali Larijani, Iran's security chief, said he drew a line between protests over economic hardship, which he called "completely understandable", and "riots", saying those actions were "very similar to the methods of terrorist groups", Tasnim news agency reported.
The US-based Center for Human Rights in Iran said it had received "eyewitness accounts and credible reports indicating that hundreds of protesters have been killed across Iran during the current internet shutdown".
"A massacre is unfolding in Iran. The world must act now to prevent further loss of life," it said.
It said hospitals were "overwhelmed", blood supplies were running low and that many protesters had been deliberately shot in the eyes.
At least 37 members of Iran's security forces have been killed, according to the US-based NGO, HRANA.
State television broadcast funeral processions in the cities of Gachsaran and Yasuj for security forces killed during the protests, and reported that 30 members of the security forces would be buried in central Isfahan.
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