Iran crisis live: US citizens should ‘leave Iran now’, says US state department
US citizens should ‘leave Iran now’, says US state department
The US state department has said US citizens should leave Iran now and “if safe to do so, consider departing Iran by land to Armenia or Türkiye”.
The US virtual embassy for Iran says citizens should “plan alternative means of communication” due to “continued internet outages” and “have a plan for departing that does not rely on US government help”.
Key events
Russia has condemned what it describes as “subversive external interference” in Iran’s internal politics, saying any repeat of last year’s US strikes on Iran would have “disastrous consequences” for the Middle East and international security.
In June last year the US targeted three key Iranian nuclear sites.
Trump has told protesters that “help is on the way”, but any military action would be unlikely to succeed, writes Dan Sabbagh, the Guardian’s defence and security editor.
“The reality is the US president has few to no options that could obviously help that country’s protest movement, never mind the fact that the history of US intervention in the region has hardly been a success,” Sabbagh concludes.
Read more on this analysis.
The time is almost 3.30am on Wednesday in Iran.
Hengaw, an Iranian Kurdish rights group, has reported that a 26-year-old man, Erfan Soltani, arrested in connection with protests in the city of Karaj, will be executed on Wednesday. Authorities had told the family that the death sentence was final, Hengaw reported, citing a source close to the family.
Just to recap Donald Trump’s comments on what could happen if Iran started to hang people in their crackdown on the uprising.
“We will take very strong action if they do such a thing,” Trump told CBS News. “When they start killing thousands of people – and now you’re telling me about hanging. We’ll see how that’s going to work out for them,” he said.
Here’s more on that statement from Iran’s UN ambassador, Amir Saeid Iravani, where he calls out the US and Israel.
“The United States and the Israeli regime bear direct and undeniable legal responsibility for the resulting loss of innocent civilian lives, particularly among the youth,” he wrote in the letter, which was also sent to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Iran accuses US of manufacturing ‘pretext for military intervention’
In the last 20 minutes, Iran has responded to Donald Trump’s comments, and accused the US president of encouraging political destablisation, inciting violence and threatening Iran’s sovereignty.
“US fantasies and policy toward Iran are rooted in regime change, with sanctions, threats, engineered unrest, and chaos serving as the way of working to manufacture a pretext for military intervention,” Iran’s mission to the UN posted on X.
We’ll bring you more on this statement soon.
In a post on X, Britain’s minister for the Middle East and North Africa, Hamish Falconer, said on Tuesday evening he summoned the Iranian ambassador to the UK.
I made clear to him that we condemn the brutal use of violence and repression by security forces against peaceful protestors and called on him to ensure the safety of British nationals in Iran.
US citizens should ‘leave Iran now’, says US state department
The US state department has said US citizens should leave Iran now and “if safe to do so, consider departing Iran by land to Armenia or Türkiye”.
The US virtual embassy for Iran says citizens should “plan alternative means of communication” due to “continued internet outages” and “have a plan for departing that does not rely on US government help”.
Further to that, Donald Trump has just told reporters after Air Force One landed at Joint Base Andrews that his administration would look at the “whole situation that’s going on in Iran”. “It’s really bad stuff,” Trump said, adding:
Iran is on my mind when I see the kind of death that is happening there.
We’ll get some accurate numbers as to what’s happening with regard to the killing.
The killing looks like it’s significant, but we don’t know yet for certain. I’ll know within 20 minutes, and we’ll act accordingly.
Trump says US will take ‘very strong action’ if Iran hangs protesters
Donald Trump has said the United States would take “very strong action” if the Iranian government starts hanging protestersbut did not elaborate on what those actions would be.
“I haven’t heard about the hanging. If they hang them, you’re going to see some things … We will take very strong action if they do such a thing,” Trump told CBS News in Dearborn, Michigan.
Trump said he was aware a “pretty substantial number” of people have been killed over the more than two weeks of demonstrations, and reiterated that “there’s a lot of help on the way” for Iranian citizens in “different forms” including economic assistance.
He also mentioned the US airstrikes last year targeting three of Iran’s nuclear facilities to CBS News, though he didn’t give any further specifics.
When asked what his end game is in Iran, the US president said:
The end game is to win. I like winning.
And asked what “winning” means, he reeled off a list of military operations from his first and second terms, adding:
We don’t want to see what’s happening in Iran happen. And you know, if they want to have protests, that’s one thing, 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.
The day so far
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Donald Trump has urged protesters in Iran to (at grave personal risk) “keep protesting” and “take over” their institutions, declaring that “help is on its way” – but has not given solid details about what that means. The US president hinted that direct military intervention could be imminent, and also announced that he was cancelling meetings with Iranian officials “until the senseless killing” stops. His vice-president JD Vance, who had reportedly been urging Trump to try diplomacy first, is currently chairing a a National Security Council principals meeting on Iran. It’s unclear if Trump, who is leaning towards fresh military strikes, will join.
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By one count, US broadcaster CBS has the death toll of at least 12,000 people – and potentially as high as 20,000. CBS said it received that number from two sources within Iran through phone calls. Those sources have cited the number being given by activist groups on the ground tallying medical records from hospitals. The Iranian regime has not provided any official numbers. Reuters cited an unnamed official today saying about 2,000 people had been killed in the past fortnight of protests.
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Meanwhile, the family of Iranian protester Erfan Soltani, who was arrested on Thursday, have said that he will be executed tomorrow. They told the BBC that the government is using “every tactic they know to suppress people and spread fear”.
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Elon Musk’s SpaceX is offering people in Iran free internet through Starlink’s satellite service, according to Bloomberg Newsas the internet blackout in the country surpassed the five-day mark. The subscription fee has been waived so that people with receivers in Iran can access service without paying, according to Bloomberg’s report.
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Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff met in secret with Reza Pahlavi, the exiled former Iranian crown prince, last weekend, Axios reported. A senior US official told the outlet the pair discussed the protests. In previous messages that have been blocked by the Iranian government internet shutdown, he has said that he is ready to lead a transition. He has also pushed for a referendum and nonviolent change in the country.
US vice-president JD Vance is due to chair a National Security Council principals meeting on Iran that will get under way shortly around 4pm ET.
It’s unclear whether Donald Trumpwho is still in Michigan and will head back to the White House later, will join the meeting.
Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal (paywall) reported that Vance has been leading the charge within the Trump administration to urge the US president to try to engage in diplomacy before retaliating against the Iranian regime.
Trump has been leaning toward military strikes, according to the WSJ’s report, and as we reported earlier, the US president said he has “canceled all meetings with the Iranian officials, until the senseless killing of protesters stops”.
Musk reportedly offers free Starlink in Iran as internet blackout persists
Elon Musk’s SpaceX is offering people in Iran free internet through Starlink’s satellite service, according to Bloomberg Newsas the internet blackout in the country surpassed the five-day mark.
The subscription fee has been waived so that people with receivers in Iran can access service without paying, according to Bloomberg’s report.
Trump says again ‘all meetings’ cancelled until ‘killing of protesters stops’
Donald Trump gave a speech on affordability at the Economic Club in Detroit on Tuesday, where he repeated his earlier comments on Iran.
The US president said: “I’ve canceled all meetings with the Iranian officials, until the senseless killing of protesters stops.”
In the past Trump has threatened the Iranian military with strikes as a means of getting Tehran into greater alignment with the US demands. He also announced on Monday that any country that does business with Iran will be subjected to a 25 percent tariff.
When asked today if Trump’s administration has advised US allies to evacuate from Iran by FT journalist Abigail Hauslohner, the president responded: “They should get out. It’s a good idea.”
