Iran ready for war, open to dialogue

Iranian officials said yesterday the country is prepared for war but also open to dialogue with the United States, as President Donald Trump continues his threats to intervene amid a violent government-led crackdown on protesters.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said Iran is keeping communications open with the US. 

“The communication channel between our Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and the US special envoy (Steve Witkoff) is open, and messages are exchanged whenever necessary.”

Contacts also remain open through traditional intermediary Switzerland, he added.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said the situation in Iran is “under control” with “many terrorist operatives” arrested. 

He told foreign diplomats in a televised meeting that “confessions will be released soon” and said there is “substantial evidence of foreign involvement.”

Iranian authorities held mass nationwide rallies yesterday to regain control of the streets. Thousands of people filled the capital’s Enghelab (Revolution) Square, brandishing the national flag as prayers were read for victims of what the government has termed “riots”, state TV showed.

Addressing the crowds, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Iran is fighting a “four-front war”, listing economic war, psychological war, “military war” with the US and Israel and “today a war against terrorists”, referring to the protests.

Flanked by the slogans “Death to Israel, Death to America” in Persian, he vowed the Iranian military would teach Trump “an unforgettable lesson” if Iran were attacked.

Araqchi said Iran was ready for both war and talks after repeated threats from Washington to intervene militarily over the crackdown on protests, which activists fear has left at least hundreds dead.

The Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR) said yesterday it had confirmed 648 people killed during the protests, including nine minors, and thousands more injuries, but warned the death toll was likely much higher -- “according to some estimates more than 6,000”, it said.

IHR added that the internet shutdown made it “extremely difficult to independently verify these reports”. 

It said an estimated 10,000 people had also been arrested.

Trump said on Sunday evening the US may meet Iranian officials, and he was in contact with Iran’s opposition while piling pressure on its leaders. 

Turkey, meanwhile, has warned that any foreign intervention in neighbouring Iran would deepen crises in both the country and the wider region, and it called for US and Iranian negotiations to resolve existing problems. 

Russia yesterday condemned what it called attempts by “foreign powers” to interfere in Iran.

Trump is due to meet with senior advisers today to discuss options for Iran, a US official told Reuters. The Wall Street Journal reported that the options included military strikes, using secret cyber weapons, widening sanctions and providing online help to anti-government sources.

Despite the massive scale of the anti-regime protests, there are no signs of splits in the Shia clerical leadership, military or security forces, and demonstrators have no clear central leadership. The opposition is fragmented.

In verified video footage, Iranians gathered at the Kahrizak Forensic Centre in Tehran on Sunday, standing over rows of dark body bags.

The ambassadors of Britain, Italy, Germany and France in Tehran were summoned to the foreign ministry, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported yesterday, and asked to relay to their governments Tehran’s request to withdraw their support for the protests.

European Parliament President Roberta Metsola has banned all diplomatic staff and any other representatives of the Islamic Republic of Iran from all European Parliament premises, she said on social media X.

Araqchi said yesterday that a total of 53 mosques and 180 ambulances had been set on fire since the protests erupted, adding that “no Iranian would attack a mosque”.

CCTV footage from inside Tehran’s Abuzar Mosque showed a dozen people, most wearing face masks, ransacking the structure, throwing books onto the ground and destroying furniture last week. Reuters verified the timestamp and location. State media reported that the mosque was set on fire on January 9.