WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump was consulting with his national security team Tuesday about next steps with Iran as he looked to get a better understanding of the number of Iranian citizens who have been killed and arrested in more than two weeks of unrest throughout the country.
Trump said he believes that the killing is “significant” and that his administration would “act accordingly.” He added that he believed the Iranian government was “badly misbehaving.”
But the president said he has yet to receive a confirmed number of Iranians killed in the protests that began late last month, saying he has heard “five different sets of numbers” about the death toll.
Since the protests began on Dec. 28, 16,700 people have been arrested and more than 2,000 have been killed, the vast majority protesters, according to Human Rights Activists News Agency. The organization relies on a network of activists inside Iran that confirms all reported fatalities.
“The message is they’ve got to show humanity,” Trump said of the Iranian government. “They’ve got a big problem. And I hope they’re not going to be killing people.”
The comments came after Trump earlier in the day announced he was cutting off the prospect of talks with Iranian officials amid a protest crackdown, telling Iranian citizens “help is on its way.”
Trump did not offer any details about what the help would entail, but it comes after the Republican president just two days ago said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic.
But Trump appeared to make an abrupt shift about his willingness to engage with the Iranian government.
“Iranian Patriots, keep protesting and take over your institutions if you can,” Trump said in speech Tuesday at an auto factory in Michigan. “Save the names of the killers and abusers that are abusing you. You are being very badly abused."
Iranian state media has aired at least 97 confessions from protesters, many expressing remorse for their actions, since the protests began, according to a rights group that is tracking the videos.
Iran alleges these confessions, which often include references to Israel or America, are proof of foreign plots behind Iran’s nationwide protests. Activists say they are coerced confessions, long a staple of Iran’s hard-line state television, the only broadcaster in the country. And these videos are coming at an unprecedented clip.
Trump, in an exchange with reporters during the factory visit, demurred when asked what kind of help he would provide.
“You’re going to have to figure that one out,” he said.
The U.S. president has repeatedly threatened Tehran with military action if his administration found the Islamic Republic was using deadly force against antigovernment protesters. Trump on Sunday told reporters he believed Iran is “starting to cross” that line and has left him and his national security team weighing “very strong options” even as he said the Iranians had made outreach efforts to the U.S.
And on Monday, the president’s team offered guarded hope that a diplomatic solution could still be found.
But on Monday, Trump said he would slap 25% tariffs on countries doing business with Tehran “effective immediately,” but the White House has not provided details on that move. China, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Brazil and Russia are among economies that do business with Tehran.
Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and key White House National Security Council officials began meeting Friday to develop options for Trump, ranging from a diplomatic approach to military strikes.
“We don’t want to see people killed and we want to see a little bit of freedom for these people," Trump said. "These people have been living in hell for a long time.”
Iran, through the country’s parliamentary speaker, has warned that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if Washington uses force to protect demonstrators.
Trump said he was undeterred by threats of Iranian retaliation.
“Iran said that the last time I blew them up,” said Trump, referring to threats from the government ahead of U.S. military strikes in June on key Iranian nuclear facilities. “They better behave.”
More than 600 protests have taken place across all of Iran’s 31 provinces, the Human Rights Activists News Agency reported Tuesday. The activist group said 1,850 of the dead were protesters and 135 were government-affiliated. It said more than 16,700 people had been detained.
Understanding the scale of the protests has been difficult. Iranian state media has provided little information about the demonstrations. Online videos offer only brief, shaky glimpses of people in the streets or the sound of gunfire.
Trump's push on the Iranian government to end the crackdown comes as he is dealing with a series of other foreign policy emergencies around the globe.
It’s been more than a week since the U.S. military launched a successful raid to arrest Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro and remove him from power. The U.S. continues to mass an unusually large number of troops in the Caribbean Sea.
Trump is also focused on trying to get Israel and Hamas onto the second phase of a peace deal in Gaza and broker an agreement between Russia and Ukraine to end the nearly four-year war in Eastern Europe.
But advocates urging Trump to take strong action against Iran say this moment offers an opportunity to further diminish the theocratic government that’s ruled the country since the Islamic revolution in 1979.
The demonstrations are the biggest Iran has seen in years — protests spurred by the collapse of Iranian currency that have morphed into a larger test of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s repressive rule.
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Associated Press reporter Michelle L. Price contributed to this report.
