Pro-Govt rallies in Iran

 

Iran drew tens of thousands of pro-Government demonstrators to head to the streets in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, which appeared to number in the tens of thousands, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!” Others cried out: “Death to the enemies of God!” Iran’s attorney general has said prosecutors will levy such charges against protesters, which carry the death penalty. It called the demonstration an “Iranian uprising against American-Zionist terrorism,” without addressing the underlying anger in the country over the nation’s ailing economy.

 

That sparked the protests over two weeks ago. State television aired images of such demonstrations around the country, trying to signal it had overcome the protests, as claimed by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi earlier in the day. US President Donald Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said on Monday the death toll in the nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 544. Iran had no direct reaction to Trump’s comments, which came after the Foreign Minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — travelled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defence. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, speaking to foreign diplomats in Tehran, insisted “the situation has come under total control” in fiery remarks that blamed Israel and the US for the violence, without offering evidence. “That’s why the demonstrations turned violent and bloody to give an excuse to the American President to intervene,” Araghchi said, in comments carried by the Qatar-funded Al Jazeera satellite news network.

 

Al Jazeera has been allowed to report from inside the country live despite the internet being shut off. However, Araghchi said Iran was “open to diplomacy.” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said a channel to the US remained open, but talks needed to be “based on the acceptance of mutual interests and concerns, not a negotiation that is one-sided, unilateral and based on dictation.” Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran, including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the US or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who were not authorised to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

 

Death toll in protests rises to at least 572: UNITED States President Donald Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday that the death toll in nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 572. Iran had no direct reaction to Trump’s comments, which came after the Foreign Minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — travelled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear programme and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defence. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, speaking to foreign diplomats in Tehran, insisted “the situation has come under total control” in remarks that blamed Israel and the US for the violence, without offering evidence.

 

“That’s why the demonstrations turned violent and bloody to give an excuse to the American president to intervene,” Araghchi said, in comments carried by Al Jazeera. The Qatar-funded network has been allowed to report live from inside Iran, despite the internet being shut off. However, Araghchi said Iran was “open to diplomacy.” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said that a channel to the US remained open, but talks needed to be “based on the acceptance of mutual interests and concerns, not a negotiation that is one-sided, unilateral and based on dictation.” Meanwhile, pro-government demonstrators flooded the streets on Monday in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, which appeared to number in the tens of thousands, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!” Iran’s attorney general has said prosecutors will levy such charges against protesters, which carry the death penalty.