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The United States has warned Iran that all options are “on the table” as representatives of both countries faced off at an emergency UN Security Council session on the protests in Iran on Thursday.
US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz warned that President Donald Trump is ready to militarily intervene in Tehran if authorities continue to use lethal force to quell the unrest.
“Colleagues, let me be clear: President Trump is a man of action, not endless talk like we see at the United Nations,” Mike Waltz told the council.
“He has made it clear that all options are on the table to stop the slaughter. And no one should know that better than the leadership of the Iranian regime.”
Waltz’s remarks came as the prospect of US retaliation for the protesters’ deaths still hung over the region, though Trump signalled a possible de-escalation, saying the killing appeared to be ending.
By Thursday, the protests challenging the Tehran regime appeared increasingly smothered, but the state-imposed communication blackout remained.
During the Security Council session, Hossein Darzi, the deputy Iranian ambassador to the UN, slammed the US for what he claimed was “direct involvement in steering unrest in Iran to violence.”
“Under the hollow pretext of concern for the Iranian people and claims of support for human rights, the United States is attempting to portray itself as a friend of the Iranian people, while simultaneously laying the groundwork for political destabilisation and military intervention under a so-called ′humanitarian′ narrative,” added Darzi.
Videos of demonstrations have stopped coming out of Iran, likely signalling a slowdown in the pace of protests under the heavy security presence in major cities.
In Tehran, eyewitnesses said that on recent mornings there were no new signs of bonfires lit the night before or debris in the streets. The sound of intense gunfire, heard for several nights, has reportedly also faded.
The clampdown on the demonstrations has killed at least 2,677 people so far, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency. The death toll exceeds any other round of major anti-government protests since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Insiders in Iran have told Euronews that the death toll is feared to be significantly higher, reaching as many as 15,000 dead over the course of the last 21 days.
Washington also announced on Thursday a series of new sanctions against Iranian officials accused of suppressing the protests, which began in late December, initially over the collapse of the currency, the rial, and the worsening economic conditions.
Among those hit include the Secretary of Iran’s Supreme Council for National Security, whom the US Treasury Department accuses of being one of the first officials to call for violence against protesters.
The G7 group of nations and the EU also said they were considering new sanctions to increase pressure on the regime in Tehran.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the 27-member bloc was looking to strengthen sanctions “to push forward that this regime comes to an end and that there is change.”
Additional sources • AP