The United States is considering “very strong options” in Iran in response to the Iranian regime’s crackdown on the biggest protests in the Islamic Republic in more than a decade, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday night.
“The military is looking at it, and we're looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night.
President Trump also said that Iran now wants to negotiate after the U.S. President’s threat to strike the country over the killing of protesters.
More than 500 people are estimated to have been killed and thousands arrested by Iranian forces in the protests that have escalated in recent days.
On Friday, Iran cut off Internet, as the regime frequently does amid protests in the autocratic country.
Iran’s leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Friday slammed the protests and protesters, accusing them of being “vandals” acting on behalf of President Trump.
In a televised address and amid the Internet blackout, Khamenei vowed that the Islamic Republic would “not back down” to protesters and Trump.
The U.S. President on Sunday night claimed that Iran wants to negotiate, noting “I think they're tired of being beat up by the United States.”
“The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what's happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate,” President Trump told reporters on Air Force One.
At the time of writing, there was no acknowledgement from Iran that Tehran would negotiate.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, a former commander of the Revolutionary Guard in Iran, an elite military force, warned the U.S.,
“Let us be clear: in the case of an attack on Iran, the occupied territories (Israel) as well as all U.S. bases and ships will be our legitimate target.”
Oil prices were little changed early on Monday, and were mostly flat in Asian trading. However, the latest rhetoric from both the U.S. and Iran is raising the geopolitical war premium in oil, and prices could be in for a very volatile week.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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