U.S.–Iran Relations

President Trump held off on ordering strikes against Iran after phone consultations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who asked for a delay so Israel could better prepare and because U.S. options were seen as too limited, while the White House and advisers warned a strike might not topple the regime and regional allies urged restraint. At the same time U.S. envoys and Israeli officials sketched possible diplomatic terms — curbs on uranium enrichment, removal of roughly 2,000 kg of enriched uranium, reductions in Iran’s ballistic‑missile inventory and an end to support for regional proxies — even as Gulf states privately lobbied Washington against escalation.

Activists, rights groups and eyewitnesses say Iran’s nationwide protest crackdown has produced mass casualties—with activist tallies varying from several hundred to thousands (HRANA’s latest counts are in the 6,000s, and some unverified sources have claimed far higher), tens of thousands arrested, and circulating morgue and body‑bag footage emerging despite a near‑total internet blackout and state broadcasts of coerced confessions and pro‑government rallies. As Iran signals fast trials and possible executions, Western leaders have warned of consequences and U.S. officials have briefed military, cyber and covert options while the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group has been routed toward the Middle East.

Mass anti‑government protests sparked by economic collapse and soaring inflation have spread across dozens of cities in Iran, with rights groups reporting anywhere from hundreds to several thousand killed and thousands detained amid a near‑nationwide internet blackout and efforts to block Starlink. In response, the U.S. has publicly warned Tehran—President Trump saying America is “locked and loaded” as a carrier strike group moves toward the region and the U.S. Embassy urged citizens to leave—while Sen. Ted Cruz urged arming protesters and Iran‑backed militias (including Kataib Hezbollah) and Iranian leaders have threatened retaliation, even warning U.S. bases and forces would be legitimate targets.

The article reports that after nationwide anti-regime protests beginning in late December and a lethal crackdown that rights groups say has killed thousands, Iran’s leadership is mounting a coordinated state-media effort to deny security-force responsibility and pin the bloodshed on 'terrorists' allegedly trained by the United States and Israel. A new nightly IRIB program, 'Eyewitness,' features accounts like that of journalist Fatemeh Faramarzi, who describes being hit with shotgun pellets and insists her attacker could only have been a foreign-guided terrorist, echoing the official line. Amnesty International’s Raha Bahreini calls this a 'long-standing pattern' of broadcasting forced or false statements to blame non-state actors, saying geolocated videos and eyewitness accounts instead show only regime forces firing live rounds into crowds of unarmed demonstrators. Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has publicly blamed President Donald Trump and 'enemy agents' for 'thousands' of deaths, while the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency now reports 5,002 confirmed fatalities, underscoring both the scale of the crackdown and the regime’s effort to reshape global perceptions amid an ongoing internet blackout. For U.S. policymakers, the narrative war complicates decisions on sanctions, international justice referrals, and any potential U.S. response to Tehran’s repression.

Iran’s top prosecutor Mohammad Movahedi called President Trump’s claim that Tehran halted or canceled the executions of “over 800” detained protesters “completely false,” saying no such judicial decision exists and suggesting the figure may have come from the foreign ministry while stressing the judiciary does not take instructions from foreign powers. The White House and Trump insist his warnings spared detainees, even as he threatened “crushing” retaliation and announced a U.S. “armada” en route, amid disputed activist casualty counts in the thousands and growing international concern over possible wider regional escalation.

After initially inviting Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi to the Davos summit, the World Economic Forum said on X it has withdrawn the invitation—saying the “tragic loss of lives of civilians in Iran” makes it inappropriate for the government to be represented—after pressure from advocacy group United Against Nuclear Iran. Human rights group HRANA reports 624 demonstrations, at least 24,669 arrests and 3,919 confirmed deaths (including 3,685 protesters and 25 minors) with nearly 9,000 additional deaths under investigation, and the Trump White House has signaled that “all options remain on the table” as it weighs possible military responses.