Thousands of people in Iran reportedly got an alert on their phones on Monday that said, “The US President is a man of action. Wait and see,” in Persian, from an anonymous number.
This escalation, reported by Iran International news agency citing state media, state media comes as US President Donald Trump has upped rhetorical attacks on the regime in Tehran, while also amassing armadas in the Middle East for a possible military strike.
Follow: Live updates on the US-Iran tensions
President Trump has said he is considering a “limited military strike” on Iran, even as a next round of talks between the two countries in Geneva is slated for Thursday.
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi told CBS on Sunday he saw a “good chance” of a diplomatic solution to the standoff over his country’s nuclear programme, while reiterating Tehran won’t be pressured by the US military buildup.
The US embassy in neighbouring Lebanon evacuated dozens of staff on Monday as a precaution amid expected regional developments, LBCI Lebanon News reported.
Fears of war continue to mount as Iran warned the US on Monday that any attack would be met “ferociously”, in response to Trump’s threat.
Iran has been working on a plan for an agreement on its nuclear programme, and said it would be ready to deliver a draft proposal to mediators in coming days. Iran insists its nuclear programme is for civilian use but the West believes it is aimed at building an atomic bomb.
Students, meanwhile, staged new protests against the Islamic regime. University students started a new semester with anti-government protests, reviving slogans from nationwide protests that peaked in January and which were met by a deadly crackdown, news agency AFP reported.
Trump said on Thursday Iran had at most 15 days to make a deal, suggesting the United States would attack if it did not using the arsenal of aircraft and ships built up in the region in recent weeks.
And while Iran has insisted the talks with the US focus solely on its nuclear programme, Washington also wants to discuss Tehran’s missiles and its support for militant groups in the region.
The two countries concluded a second round of indirect talks in Switzerland last week under Omani mediation, and were due to continue on Thursday, a schedule confirmed by Iran and Oman but not yet by the US.
In an interview with Fox News over the weekend, US negotiator Steve Witkoff said Trump was wondering why Iran has not “capitulated” in the face of Washington’s military deployment.
The European Union, which has been sidelined in mediation on Iran, called for a diplomatic solution ahead of the talks. “We don’t need another war in this region,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said. “It is true that Iran is at its weakest point that they have been. We should be really using this time to find a diplomatic solution.”
Iran’s clerical authorities have faced recent steep challenges, including the recent mass protests, last year’s 12-day war with Israel, and the weakening of Iran’s regional proxies.
On Monday videos geolocated by AFP and circulated on social media showed students at a university in Tehran burning the Iranian flag adopted by the Islamic republic after the 1979 revolution that toppled the monarchy.
The crowd of mostly women in the video chanted “down with the Islamic republic”, echoing chants against the supreme leader and clerical authorities during the protests that were sparked in December over prolonged economic strain in the sanctions-hit country.
The protests that peaked on January 8 and 9 were put down by security forces with violence that left thousands dead. The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) has recorded more than 7,000 killings, the vast majority protesters, though rights groups say the toll is likely far higher.
Authorities acknowledge more than 3,000 deaths, including security forces and bystanders, but say the violence was caused by “terrorist acts” fuelled by Iran’s enemies the United States and Israel that they say hijacked legitimate economic protests.
Concerns over a US-Iran conflict have prompted several foreign countries to urge their citizens to leave Iran, with India on Monday joining Sweden, Serbia, Poland and Australia in calling for its citizens to leave.
(AFP inputs)
