Iran is completely prepared for war but also for diplomacy, its foreign minister said on Monday, as US President Donald Trump indicated the Iranian government was seeking talks after threatening to act militarily in response to a protest crackdown.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran is not seeking war but is fully prepared for war,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told a conference of foreign ambassadors in Tehran broadcast by state TV.
“We are also ready for negotiations, but these negotiations should be fair, with equal rights and based on mutual respect.”
His statement comes after Trump said Sunday that Iran’s leadership had called him seeking “to negotiate” after he repeatedly threatened to intervene militarily if Tehran killed protesters.
For two weeks, Iran has been rocked by a protest movement that has swelled in spite of a crackdown that rights groups warn has become a “massacre.”
Initially sparked by anger over the rising cost of living, the demonstrations have evolved into a serious challenge to the theocratic system in place since the 1979 revolution.
Information has continued to trickle out of Iran despite a days-long internet shutdown, with videos filtering out of the capital, Tehran, and other cities over the past three nights showing large demonstrations.
As reports emerge of a rising protest death toll and photographs show bodies heaped outside a morgue, Trump stated Tehran has expressed a willingness to speak.
“The leaders of Iran called yesterday,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, adding that a meeting is being planned. “They want to negotiate.”
He did, however, mention that “we may have to act before a meeting.”
The US-based Centre for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said it had received “eyewitness accounts and credible reports indicating that hundreds of protesters have been killed across Iran during the current internet shutdown.”
“A massacre is unfolding,” it said.
The Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR) confirmed the deaths of at least 192 demonstrators but suggested the actual figure could be significantly higher.
“Unverified reports indicate that at least several hundred, and according to some sources, more than 2,000 people may have been killed,” IHR informed.
IHR estimates that around 2,600 demonstrators have been arrested.
A video circulating on Sunday shows dozens of dead piled up outside a morgue south of Tehran.
The footage, geolocated by AFP near Kahrizak, showed remains covered in black bags and what appeared to be a heartbroken family looking for loved ones.
