Iran warns 'finger on trigger' as Trump says it wants talks

The commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards on Thursday warned Washington that the force had its "finger on the trigger" in the wake of mass protests, as US President Donald Trump said the Islamic republic still appeared interested in talks.

Trump has repeatedly left open the option of new military action against Iran after Washington backed and joined Israel's 12-day war in June aimed at degrading Iranian nuclear and ballistics programmes.

A fortnight of protests starting in late December shook the clerical leadership under supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, but the movement has petered out in the face of a crackdown that activists say has left thousands dead, accompanied by an unprecedented internet blackout.

Iranian women walk past a government building that was burnt during recent public protests, in Tehran. AFP

The prospect of immediate American action against Tehran appears to have receded over the last week, with both sides insisting on giving diplomacy a chance even as US media report Trump is still studying options.

Addressing the World Economic Forum in Davos, Trump said the US struck Iranian uranium enrichment sites last year to prevent Tehran from making a nuclear weapon. Iran denies its nuclear programme is aimed at seeking the bomb.

"Can't let that happen," he said, adding: "And Iran does want to talk, and we'll talk."

In a standoff marked by seesawing rhetoric, Trump had on Tuesday warned Iran's leaders the US would "wipe them off the face of this earth" if there was any attack on his life in response to a strike targeting Khamenei.

Guards commander General Mohammad Pakpour warned Israel and the United States "to avoid any miscalculations, by learning from historical experiences and what they learned in the 12-day imposed war, so that they do not face a more painful and regrettable fate."

A woman walks past the Al Aqsa Mosque that was damaged during recent public protests, in Tehran. AFP

"The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and dear Iran have their finger on the trigger, more prepared than ever, ready to carry out the orders and measures of the supreme commander-in-chief — a leader dearer than their own lives," he said, referring to Khamenei.

His comments came in a written statement quoted by state television marking the national day in Iran to celebrate the Guards, a force whose mission is to protect the 1979 Islamic revolution from internal and external threats.

Activists accuse the Guards of playing a frontline role in the deadly crackdown on protests. The group is sanctioned as a terrorist entity by countries including Australia, Canada and the United States, and campaigners have long urged similar moves from the EU and UK.

Pakpour took over as Guards commander last year after his predecessor Hossein Salami was one of several key military figures killed in an Israeli strike during the 12-day war, losses which revealed Israel's deep intelligence penetration of the Islamic republic.

Another senior military figure, General Ali Abdollahi Aliabadi who leads the Iranian joint command headquarters, meanwhile warned that in the case of an attack by the United States, "all US interests, bases and centres of influence" would be "legitimate targets" for the Iranian armed forces.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi — in an eye-catching opinion piece published Tuesday in the Wall Street Journal — said Iran would not hold back if attacked but added it had "always been ready for real and serious negotiations."

OFFICIAL DEATH TOLL

Giving their first official toll from the protests, Iranian authorities on Wednesday said 3,117 people were killed.

The statement from Iran's foundation for martyrs and veterans sought to draw a distinction between "martyrs," who it said were members of security forces or innocent bystanders, and what it described as "rioters" backed by the US. Of its toll of 3,117, it said 2,427 people were martyrs.

However, rights groups say the heavy toll was caused by security forces firing directly on protesters and that the actual number of those killed could be far higher and even extend to over 20,000.

Efforts to confirm the scale of the toll have been hampered by the national internet shutdown, with monitor Netblocks saying it was now two weeks since the authorities reached for the "national kill-switch."

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Israeli President Isaac Herzog said "the future for the Iranian people can only be in a regime change", adding that "the Ayatollah regime is in quite a fragile situation."

Agence France-Presse