Mossad reportedly puts death toll at 5,000

‘Help is on its way’: Trump urges Iranians to keep protesting, seize institutions

US president says he has canceled unspecified meetings with Iranian officials, declines to elaborate on offer of help; Witkoff said to meet with son of deposed shah

Appearing to depart from the notion of negotiating with the Iranian government, US President Donald Trump told protesters in Iran on Tuesday that “help is on its way” and urged them to keep protesting and take control of the country’s institutions.

He added that those who have killed protesters would “pay a big price.”

Trump’s remarks, made in a social media post, came after Iranian authorities said some 2,000 people had been killed in the mass demonstrations, though the Mossad was reported to say that the true toll was more than twice as high.

Iranian authorities have now insisted that they have regained control of the country. But Trump urged the protests to continue.

“Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING – TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!! Save the names of the killers and abusers. They will pay a big price,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “I have cancelled all meetings with Iranian Officials until the senseless killing of protesters STOPS.”

“HELP IS ON ITS WAY,” he added.

Two days before publishing that post, Trump had appeared to tack toward negotiations with Iran, saying the regime wanted to talk and that the discussions were “being set up.” Now, the US president was broadcasting ambiguity about what his post means.

“You’re going to have to figure that one out. I’m sorry,” he told reporters on Tuesday in response to a question about the post.

Later, in a speech in Michigan otherwise focused on the economy, Trump essentially repeated the text of the post, telling protesters to “take over your institutions if possible,” reiterating that meetings with Iranian officials had been canceled, and saying again, without elaborating, that “help is on its way.”

“Save the name of the killers and the abusers,” he repeated, “because they’ll pay a very big price.”

Talks on the Iranian protests did happen — but not with representatives of Iran’s regime. Axios reported, citing an unnamed senior US official, that White House Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff met with Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s last shah, over the weekend to discuss the demonstrations.

Pahlavi, who lives in exile, has become an increasingly prominent voice in the fragmented Iranian opposition in recent days. He has been encouraging Iranians to take to the streets to oppose the regime. The meeting comes after Trump, last week, had indicated that he did not plan to meet with Pahlavi, saying that he “seems like a nice person,” but that it would not be “appropriate at this point.”

“There has been an ascendance of Pahlavi. They are chanting his name in demonstrations in many cities and it seems to be happening organically,” a US official told Axios.

Elsewhere, diplomatic engagement was taking place. The European Union summoned Iran’s ambassador in Brussels over the Islamic Republic’s response to the protests, an EU official said Tuesday on condition of anonymity.

France, Germany and the United Kingdom also summoned their Iranian ambassadors to protest what French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot called “state violence unquestioningly unleashed on peaceful protesters.”

Trump’s post came as reports of the death toll from the protests has continued to mount. Other sources have reported far higher numbers than the figure cited by Iran’s authorities. According to an American official quoted by Channel 12 news on Tuesday, the Mossad has conveyed to the US that at least 5,000 Iranians have been killed in the protests.

“[Security forces] are deliberately shooting at the head and the eyes. They want to damage the head and the eyes so they can no longer see, the same thing they did in [2022],” a doctor at a Tehran hospital told the Guardian.

“Eyes were hit by birdshot pellets and it was deliberate, they are shooting to kill.”

Trump lamented the death toll on Tuesday, even as he said its true scope was unclear.

“I hear five different sets of numbers,” Trump said in the Michigan speech. “Look, one death is too much, but I hear much lower numbers, and then I hear much higher numbers.”

Against that backdrop, Trump has repeatedly threatened Tehran with military action if his administration found the Islamic Republic was using deadly force against anti-government protesters. On Sunday, he told reporters he believed Iran was “starting to cross” that line and has left him and his national security team weighing “very strong options.”

On Monday, Trump said he would slap 25% tariffs on countries doing business with Tehran “effective immediately,” but the White House has not provided details on that move.

China, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Brazil and Russia are among the economies that do business with Tehran.

Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and key White House National Security Council officials began meeting Friday to develop options for Trump, ranging from a diplomatic approach to military strikes.

Iran, through the country’s parliamentary speaker, has warned that Israel and the US military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if Washington uses force to protect demonstrators.

On Tuesday evening, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened his security cabinet for a prescheduled meeting.

More than 600 protests have taken place across all of Iran’s 31 provinces, the Human Rights Activists News Agency reported Tuesday. The activist group said 1,850 of the dead were protesters and 135 were government-affiliated. It said more than 16,700 people had been detained.

The demonstrations are the biggest Iran has seen in years — protests spurred by the collapse of Iranian currency that have morphed into a larger test of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and his repressive rule.

The Iranian government on Monday sought to regain control of the streets with mass nationwide rallies that Khamenei hailed as proof that the protest movement was defeated, calling them a “warning” to the United States.

But advocates urging Trump to take strong action against Iran say this moment offers an opportunity to further diminish the theocratic government that’s ruled the country since the Islamic revolution in 1979.

Trump also may have hinted at that possibility in his speech.

“I say make Iran great again,” he said, in a play on his “MAGA” slogan.  “You know, it was a great country until these monsters came in and took it over.”