The US and UK have evacuated some personnel from a military base in Qatar amid concerns Washington might soon launch military action against Iran, which Tehran has warned would trigger retaliatory strikes.
A US official told Reuters and the Associated Press on Wednesday that the withdrawal was a precaution, while diplomats said that some forces had been advised to leave al-Udeid base in Qatar. Iran struck al-Udeid in June after the US hit nuclear enrichment facilities in Iran, though the strike was telegraphed and largely symbolic.
The UK is also withdrawing staff from the US military base in Qatar, the Guardian understands.
Iranian officials have warned the US not to intervene in nationwide protests as Donald Trump reviews options for a strike on the country. The US president had previously promised to “rescue protesters” if Iranian authorities carried on killing them.
A senior Iranian official said Iran had told regional countries that host US bases, such as Saudi Arabia and Turkey, that it would attack those bases in the event of a US strike.
Israeli assessments, according to Reuters, indicate that Trump has decided to intervene in Iran, but it is unclear what form or scale military action could take.
Defying Trump’s threat, the Iranian government has signalled that detained protesters will face speedy trials and executions.
Iran’s judicial chief, Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, told state media: “If we want to do a job, we should do it now. If we want to do something, we have to do it quickly. If it becomes late, two months, three months later, it doesn’t have the same effect. If we want to do something, we have to do that fast.”
Human rights groups have warned that executions of protesters could take place soon. A 26-year-old protester, Erfan Soltani, was slated to face execution on Wednesday, the first anti-government demonstrator to be given a death sentence. It was unclear whether the execution had proceeded or not, as authorities typically carry out death penalties at dawn.
“I am in complete shock, I keep feeling as if I am in a dream,” Somayeh, a relative of Soltani, told CNN. “People trusted Trump’s words and came to the streets. I beg you, please do not let Erfan be executed.”
Trump warned on Tuesday that the US would take “very strong action” if executions of protesters began.
“If they do such a thing, we will take very strong action,” Trump told CBS News in an interview broadcast on Tuesday night, hours before the US president was due to be briefed on the scale of casualties inside Iran.
Neighbouring countries to Iran, including Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, have reportedly discouraged the US from intervening in Iran – warning that doing so could ignite a “full-scale war”.
That war would “certainly” have severe consequences “not only on the Middle East but on the global economy”, a Cairo-based diplomat told the Associated Press, pointing to a potential response by Iranian-backed militias across the region.
A western official also told Reuters that while the unrest in Iran was happening on an unprecedented scale, the government did not seem likely to collapse and Iran’s security apparatus seemed firmly in control.
The death toll in Iran has soared as authorities have carried out a brutal crackdown, with 2,571 people killed and more than 18,100 people arrested, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA). Already, the death toll from the two-week protest movement dwarfs any other in Iran since its 1979 revolution.
Protesters said there was a heavy security force on Wednesday as authorities carried out a mass funeral for 100 security forces killed in demonstrations.
Tens of thousands of government supporters attended the funeral near Tehran University carrying pictures of the Iranian supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and waving the Iranian flag. A presenter chanted as mourners gathered by trucks laden by Iranian-flag draped caskets, stacked three rows high.
“All of our problems are because of America, today’s economic problems are because of American sanctions. Death to America!” the presenter yelled.
Amnesty International highlighted Soltani’s case and said there were concerns that Iranian authorities might “once again resort to swift trials and arbitrary executions to crush and deter dissent”.
Last year, Iran hanged at least 1,500 people, the Norway-based Iran Human Rights group said.
Soltani was arrested in Karaj on Thursday, a city on the north-west outskirts of Tehran, at the peak of the protests before the internet blackout.
Trump told CBS he was aware a “pretty substantial number” of people had been killed during demonstrations.
Iranian state television has offered the first official acknowledgment of the deaths, quoting an official saying the country had “a lot of martyrs”.
On Tuesday evening, the state department warned US citizens to leave Iran immediately. Other western countries issued similar travel warnings.
In his CBS interview, Trump was asked about the hangings reportedly set to begin in Iran on Wednesday and what he meant by “we will take very strong action”. The president referenced the recent US strikes on Venezuela and the 2019 killing of the then Islamic State leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
“We don’t want to see what’s happening in Iran happen … When they start killing thousands of people. And now you’re telling me about hanging. We’ll see how that works out for them. It’s not going to work out good,” he said.
Earlier, Trump had posted a message of support to protesters on Truth Social.
“Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING - TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!!” he wrote. “Save the names of the killers and abusers. They will pay a big price. I have cancelled all meetings with Iranian Officials until the senseless killing of protesters STOPS. HELP IS ON ITS WAY.”
In response, Iran’s UN mission said Washington’s “playbook” would “fail again”.
“US fantasies and policy toward Iran are rooted in regime change, with sanctions, threats, engineered unrest, and chaos serving as the modus operandi to manufacture a pretext for military intervention,” the statement posted on X said.
Iranian authorities claimed they had regained control of the country after successive nights of mass protests nationwide since Thursday, relaying messages to foreign counterparts that protests had been quelled.
After authorities severed communications during the crackdown, Iranians were on Tuesday able to make phone calls abroad for the first time in days.
Security service personnel have apparently been searching for Starlink satellite internet terminals, as people in northern Tehran reported authorities raiding apartment buildings with satellite dishes.
While satellite television dishes are illegal, many in the capital have them in homes, and officials had broadly given up on enforcing the law in recent years. Activists said on Wednesday that Starlink was offering free service in Iran.
Meanwhile, Iranian state media have aired at least 97 confessions from protesters since 28 December, according to HRANA. The group said testimony it had collected from those released showed these confessions were coerced, often after torture. The group says such coerced confessions can lead to severe consequences, including state executions.
With Associated Press and Reuters
