Iran says it is keeping communication channels open with the United States as President Donald Trump weighs possible responses to a deadly crackdown on nationwide protests, which have become one of the most serious challenges to the country’s clerical rulers since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, according to international media.
As rival demonstrations fill the streets, death tolls continue to rise, and Washington weighs its next move, Iran’s leadership now faces a volatile mix of internal dissent and external pressure — with no clear sign of a resolution in sight.
Trump said on Sunday that Washington may meet Iranian officials and that he was in contact with Iran’s opposition, while also piling pressure on Tehran’s leadership — including threatening possible military action over what he described as lethal violence against protesters.
A US-based rights group, HRANA, said it had verified the deaths of 544 people — 496 protesters and 48 security personnel — since demonstrations began on December 28. It said 10,681 people have been arrested.
Those figures cannot be independently verified. Information from inside Iran has been restricted by an internet blackout imposed since Thursday.
The unrest, which began as protests against soaring prices and worsening living conditions, has since evolved into direct challenges to the clerical establishment, with demonstrators openly calling for its downfall. Iran’s regional influence has also weakened significantly in recent months.
Despite the scale of the protests, there are no signs of splits within the Shi’ite clerical leadership, the military or the security forces. Protesters also lack a clear central leadership, and the opposition remains fragmented.
Verified video footage showed Iranians gathered at the Kahrizak Forensic Centre in Tehran on Sunday, standing over rows of dark body bags.
Iran has not released an official death toll. Instead, authorities have blamed the bloodshed on what they describe as US interference and Israeli- and US-backed terrorists. State media has focused largely on the deaths of security personnel.
Tehran says US communication channel ‘open’
Iranian officials said on Monday that communication with Washington remains open.
“The communication channel between our Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and the US special envoy (Steve Witkoff) is open and messages are exchanged whenever necessary,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said.
He added that contacts also continue through Switzerland, a traditional intermediary.
Baghaei said ideas had been exchanged, but accused the US of sending “contradictory messages”, which he said showed a lack of seriousness.
Araqchi reiterated in a briefing to foreign ambassadors in Tehran that Iran was ready for war but remained open to dialogue.
Ambassadors from Britain, Italy, Germany and France were summoned to the foreign ministry, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency, and were asked to pass on Tehran’s demand that their governments withdraw support for the protests.
Iran considers any political or media backing of the demonstrations to be “an unacceptable intervention in the internal security of the country,” Tasnim said.
Addressing a large pro-government crowd at Tehran’s Enqelab Square on Monday, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said Iran was fighting a war on four fronts: “economic war, psychological warfare, military war against the US and Israel, and today a war against terrorism.”
Araqchi said 53 mosques and 180 ambulances had been set on fire since the unrest began, adding, “No Iranian would attack a mosque.”
CCTV footage from inside Tehran’s Abuzar Mosque showed around a dozen masked individuals ransacking the building, throwing books onto the ground and destroying furniture. The time and location of the footage were verified. State media reported the mosque was set on fire on January 9.
Trump: ‘We might meet’ Iranians
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said Iran had reached out to negotiate over its disputed nuclear programme.
“Iran wants to negotiate, yes. We might meet with them. A meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what is happening before the meeting,” he said.
He added, “Iran called, they want to negotiate.”
A US official told Reuters that Trump was due to meet senior advisers on Tuesday to discuss options. The Wall Street Journal reported that these include possible military strikes, cyber operations, tougher sanctions and providing online assistance to anti-government sources.
Military action could be highly risky. Some bases of Iran’s elite security forces are believed to be located in heavily populated areas, raising fears that any attack could result in large civilian casualties.
Qalibaf warned Washington 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 the former Revolutionary Guards commander.
Iran is still recovering from last year’s war, and its regional clout has been weakened by blows to key allies, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah, since the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel. Israel also killed several senior Iranian commanders during the June conflict.
‘Death to Khamenei’ heard at Tehran funeral
Among hundreds of videos reviewed by BBC Verify and BBC Persian, one showed protesters chanting “death to Khamenei” — Iran’s supreme leader — during a funeral at a Tehran mortuary.
The footage, first posted on Telegram at 00:45 local time on Sunday, shows mourners at the Behesht-Zahra Mortuary, 20km south of central Tehran, carrying a casket while chanting for “bravery”.
BBC was able to verify the location by matching features of the building — including its atrium — with images available on Google Photos. Reverse image searches found no earlier versions of the video online.
Such ceremonies typically include religious chants, but in this case the crowd could be heard shouting slogans against the supreme leader.
Pro-government rallies flood streets
At the same time, tens of thousands of pro-government demonstrators were mobilised across Iran on Monday, in what state media described as a show of strength.
State television showed crowds heading towards Tehran’s Enghelab Square, branding the rallies an “uprising against American-Zionist terrorism”.
Broadcasters did not address the underlying economic grievances that first sparked the protests.
‘Situation under total control’
Araqchi said on Monday that the situation was now “under total control”, after a surge in violence over the weekend.
He accused Trump of encouraging what he called terrorist attacks on both protesters and security forces in order to justify foreign intervention.
Araqchi also said internet services would be gradually restored in coordination with security agencies.
Iranians have increasingly voiced anger at the powerful Revolutionary Guards, whose business empire — spanning oil and gas, construction and telecommunications — is estimated to be worth billions of dollars.
