Taoiseach condemns 'repression' in Iran as Trump says US considering 'very strong options'

LAST UPDATE | 20 hrs ago

THE REPRESSION OF citizens and protesters in Iran must end, Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said.

Hundreds of people have been killed and thousands detained in the uprising against Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s rule.

Protests in Iran began in late December over the ailing economy and have transformed into the most significant challenge to the regime for several years.

Iran’s foreign minister has claimed that nationwide protests in his country “turned violent and bloody to give an excuse” for US president Donald Trump to intervene.

Abbas Araghchi offered no evidence for his claim, which comes after activists reported more than 500 have been killed – the vast majority of them demonstrators.

Speaking to foreign diplomats in Tehran, Araghchi also claimed “the situation has come under total control”.

Al Jazeera, which has been allowed to work despite the internet being cut off in the country, carried his remarks.

Today, the Taoiseach said the violence in Iran “must stop” and that Iranians had the right to protest.

“I strongly condemn the brutal and violent suppression of protestors that has left hundreds of civilians dead in Iran over recent days,” he said in a statement on X.

“The people of Iran have a fundamental right to peaceful protest and freedom of expression. The repression must end. I urge the authorities in Tehran to uphold the rights of all their citizens.

“The violence must stop, the curtailing of basic freedoms must end, and dialogue begin at once.”

In a statement this afternoon, the Iranian regime’s embassy in Dublin has claimed the Tehran Government is open to dialogue, committed to human rights and “peaceful assembly”.

Meanwhile, the EU is “looking into” imposing additional sanctions on Iran over the repression of protests convulsing the country.

“We stand ready to propose new, more severe sanctions following the violent crackdown on protesters,” EU spokesman Anouar El Anouni said today.

On Sunday, Foreign Affairs Minister Helen McEntee said she was “deeply concerned” by developments in Iran.

She said she was in contact with the Irish embassy in Tehran and with EU partners.

“I call on the Iranian authorities to refrain from any further violence, to restore communications, engage with demonstrators about their grievances and to uphold the fundamental rights of all Iranians.”

Iran’s shutdown of the internet, which activists fear masks a crackdown they say has killed hundreds, has now lasted more than three-and-a-half days, a monitor said.

“As Iran wakes up to a new day, metrics show the national internet blackout is past the 84 hour mark,” monitor Netblocks said, saying that the blackout could be circumvented with shortwave radio, connecting to cell coverage at borders, Starlink and satellite phones.

On Sunday, Trump said Iran had proposed negotiations after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic, a move coming as activists said the death toll in protests rose to at least 544.

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Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential actions against Iran, including cyber-attacks 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.

“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.

Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”

Trump said his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.

“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate.

“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.”

There was no immediate acknowledgement from Iran of the offering of a meeting.

Tehran also warned that the US military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if they intervene militarily. 

More than 10,600 people have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran cross-checking information and said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces.

With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.

Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown. Protesters flooded the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning.

Online videos purported to show more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.

The threat to strike the US military and Israel came during a parliamentary speech by Mohammad Baagher Qalibaf, the hard-liner speaker of the body who has run for the presidency in the past.

He directly threatened Israel, calling it “the occupied territory”.

“In the event of an attack on Iran, both the occupied territory and all American military centres, bases and ships in the region will be our legitimate targets,” Qalibaf said.

“We do not consider ourselves limited to reacting after the action and will act based on any objective signs of a threat.”

Politicians rushed the dais in parliament, shouting: “Death to America!”

It remains unclear how serious Iran is about launching a strike, particularly after its air defences were destroyed during the 12-day war in June with Israel. Any decision to go to war would rest with Iran’s 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The US military has said it is “postured with forces that span the full range of combat capability to defend our forces, our partners and allies and US interests”.

Iran targeted US forces at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar in June, while the US Navy’s Mideast-based 5th Fleet is stationed in the island kingdom of Bahrain.

Israel, meanwhile, is “watching closely” the situation between the US and Iran, said an Israeli official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to not being authorised to speak to journalists.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio overnight on topics including Iran, the official added.

“The people of Israel, the entire world, are in awe of the tremendous heroism of the citizens of Iran,” said Netanyahu, a longtime Iran hawk.

With reporting from AFP